Twilight Dimenson
by Ferrion Knight of Oblivion
Summary: Link was never born. Zant has taken over and Midna is nowhere to be found. Two teens from another dimenson have come to save the day. Can a simple friendship grow larger than imagined, or will it shatter like glass? Part one of the Twilight Sequence.
1. Prologue

Rain came beating down against the windows of the small house. A girl looked out from her bedroom window and stared out into the dark night. She sat at her desk, taking little notice of the mess. She had short, dark brown hair, blue-gray eyes and she wore pair of brown glasses. She wore a red shirt, blue polka-dot pants and fuzzy blue socks.

_Ding!_

The girl turned her attention to her computer. One of her friends had just gotten on and was wanting to chat on instant messenger.

Vampyer1: Hey, how're you?

Lev90: I'm good, and you?

Vampyer1: So so.

Lev90: You got on at a bad time, I was going to head to bed in a few minutes.

Vampyer1: Ahh, that's okay. I only got on to tell you I wasn't going to be on until late tomorrow.

Lev90: That's fine, I won't either. I have that bowling tournament in the morning.

Vampyer1: Then you'd better get to bed. You'll need your strength for bowling.

Lev90: I'll need more than my strength.

Vampyer1: Haha, well good luck tomorrow, and get some sleep.

Lev90: Thanks, talk to you later.

Vampyer1: Bye.

Lev90: Bye.

The girl shut off the computer and turned out the lights. She took of her glasses and placed them on the bedside table. She climbed into bed and tried to sleep but her mind was racing with thoughts of the next day.

She looked at the clock, it read 10:53pm. She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them again and looked at the clock, which now read 3:27am.

"At least I got some sleep." she sighed, closing her eyes again.

There was a loud crash. The girl bolted up right and looked around the room. The window had been smashed to bits, letting in rain and wind.

Something slunk through the window, something big and dark. It came towards her, it's long, sharp claws reaching out to grab her.

She leaped from the bed and ran for the open door. Another creature stood in the door way, she was trapped. The first monster grabbed her around the neck and threw her out the smashed window.

She landed with a thud on the wet grass. The two creatures came through the window and grabbed her again, holding down on the ground.

"Ahh, a fine replacement for the Queen." a cold voice laughed. "Bring her, make sure she remembers nothing."

* * *

Vampyer1: Lara's missing?!

Larktheprincess: That's right.

Vampyer1: Do they have any ideas what might've happened?

RelientK101: All they know is that there was a struggle, broken glass from the smashed window and some blood on the grass outside. Other than that, there isn't anything to go on.

Vampyer1: I was just talking to her yesterday...

RelientK101: Did she seem stressed?

Vampyer1: No, she was perfectly fine. Except that she was tired and needed to get some rest for that bowling tournament today, she was fine.

Larktheprincess: Maybe she was stressed and just didn't want to worry you. She's good at hiding most of her feelings, especially if she thinks she'll hurt someone else.

Vampyer1: I'm gonna take a look around town, maybe she came here.

Larktheprincess: Worth a try.

Vampyer1: Keep me updated.

RelientK101: We will, good luck.

A boy stood up from his computer desk. His dark hair was somewhat tangled, blocking some sight from his dark eyes. He didn't show it, but he only had one thing on his mind; finding Lara.

He and Lara, the missing girl, had been friends for well over a year. Although they had never met face-to-face, they usually saw each other through short movies they sent to each other.

The boy looked around his house for a moment, to find everyone had gone. He pulled his hair behind his ear to show a hearing aid.

He had been hearing impaired since he was young, but he made the most of his hearing aid.

"Odd...I was sure Mom would still be here," he said. "I guess I'll just leave her a note."

He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a note as to where he was going, and when he planned to be back. He went outside and began to walk up the street.

* * *

"Nothing," the boy sighed. "No trace of her anywhere."

He had walked through town twice and was now taking a break. He looked at his watch, it was almost two hours after he said he'd be back.

"I'll look again tomorrow," he said, turning around to go back home. "If I can't find her, I'll ju-"

He stopped dead in his tracks. Standing in front of him was a tall man in dark clothes. A pointed, metal mask hid his face.

"Uhh, can I help you?" the boy asked.

The man said nothing, but kept staring at the boy, almost as if he were searching for something.

"I'll be going then."

The boy walked around the man and started down the street. He was only a few blocks away from his house, but it seemed more like it was miles away.

He rounded the street corner and the man from before was standing there.

"Weren't you just back there?" the boy asked.

"Perhaps," the man replied.

"Are you lost?"

"No."

"Looking for someone?"

"No."

"Then why are you following me?"

"Because...I need you to do something for me."

"Uhh...What exac-"

Something hit the boy over the head. He fell to the ground, near unconscious. His vision began to blur and grow dark.

"I need you to disappear."


	2. The Wolf and the Princess

'Ugh...what happened?'

The boy was regaining his consciousness. Something felt wrong to him, his body felt somewhat warmer than it had before. He forced his eyes open.

He was lying on a stone floor inside what appeared to be a cage or prison cell. He tried to stand up but his paws and legs were-

"What the-?!" he exclaimed.

He knew what was wrong now, his body had been changed. He looked over himself and found he had been turned into a wolf.

"Please, guard," a voice began to say from down the hall. "Please, let me see the wolf."

"Sorry, Princess," a scratching voice replied. "No one's allowed to see 'im, 'specially you."

"But why? I AM your leader, aren't I?"

"No, my leader is the Twilight King, not the Twilight Princess."

"Very well...And just to make it clear, I am not the Princess of Twilight."

"Shall I escort you to your room?" the guard asked.

"If you feel the need," the girl replied. "But I can get there myself."

"Hey!" the boy shouted. "Let me out!"

"Seems the wolf is awake," the guard said.

"Please, I'm here already, won't you let me see him?" the girl asked.

"Not withou-Ah!"

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of running feet. A girl appeared at the door. She wore a brown cloak and hood which hid her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, if you can get me out of here," the boy replied. "Can you find a key or something?"

"Better than that, I can break the lock on the door."

She looked at the lock on the door and snapped her fingers. The lock broke and fell off the door.

"Come on, I can show you the way out," she said. "But we'll have to move fast, more guards will come."

She pulled the door open and knelt down beside the boy. His left front leg was chained to the floor. The girl snapped her fingers and the chain broke.

"Quickly! I'll be badly punished if they find I've helped you escape!" she exclaimed.

The girl led the way down the long corridor. They came to what seemed to be a sewer system. The deep water flowed down into a maze of tunnels.

"This will take us directly to the woods in the south." the girl said, kneeling down to the water. "The water may seem rather murky, but its only because of the lack of light. Come on, try not to make much noise."

She slipped into the water and began to drift into the tunnel. The boy slipped into the water as well and swam after the girl.

* * *

They let the water take them through the maze of tunnels. The tunnel ended but the water kept going, taking them through a forest.

"So, now that we're out of danger," the boy began to say. "Why not take off the hood? It must be hot under there."

"I'd rather not take it off. Any monsters that could be hiding in the trees might see me," the girl replied.

"What would it matter if they saw you?"

"It's a little hard to explain...But I'll tell you once you've been restored to your original form."

"Alright, I can wait that long."

The river became shallow enough for them to walk. They walked in silence through the river until they came to a spring.

"The Ordon Healing Spring" the girl sighed. "I knew the river would bring us here."

She walked to the edge of the pool and to the path beyond. After looking side-to-side, she motioned for the boy to come over.

"I didn't ask your name before, may I ask now?" the girl asked.

"Of course. I'm Sam."

"You should call me Princess for now, everyone does."

"Alright, what do we do now?"

"Night will fall soon, there are two things I need your help to getting from Ordon Villge."

"Ordon Village?"

"Yes. There should be two sacred items, the Ordon Sword and the Ordon Shield. I need you to find a way into the two houses where the weapons are being kept."

"What'll I get out of this?"

"You'll get my help in restoring you to your original form. But, it's not like I couldn't get the items myself. And it's not like you need my help to get yourself back to normal."

"Okay, okay, I get the point. What first?"

"The shield will be faster to get. Follow me."

The girl led the way down the forest path. They soon came to a small clearing, where a large tree stood to the right of the path. The tree had been carved out to make a house. Next to the tree was a sign reading: Store House.

"That's weird..." the Princess sighed. "I don't remember this sign saying that."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"Never mind, come on."

* * *

"Okay, I've gotten you the sword and the shield," Sam growled. "Now will you kindly help me get back to normal?"

"Yes," the girl replied. "But first, we should stop at the Ordon Spring."

"Okay."

They walked up the path and stopped at the spring. The Princess knelt down and scooped some water into her hand.

"Here," she said, holding her hand to Sam. "You need it more than I do."

"No thanks," Sam replied. "I'd rather not drink out of a stranger's hand."

"Then, you'd rather drink from the spring as if you were really a wolf?"

"Better than from a stranger's hand."

"Probably."

_Beware..._

"...Did you say something?" the girl asked.

"No..." Sam replied.

_...A dark one approaches._

The entrance to the spring was blocked off by a shadow barrier. A red cloud appeared above them and a dark creature fell out from it.

Flat head, long claws, almost bear like except it was rather thin.

"Princess!" the creature hissed. "You must come back with me, the King is _so_ worried about you!"

"Darn!" the Princess snarled. "I thought I'd be safe from the Twilight Messengers."

"Get back!" Sam growled, stepping between the Princess and the creature. "Go back to where you came from, monster!"

"I take no orders from you!" the Twilight Messenger replied. "Nor do I leave without completing my mission."

The Twilight Messenger took a step forward.

"Back off!" Sam yelled.

The creature continued to advance. Sam leaped and struck it down in one blow. The monster exploded and the red cloud turned green.

"Thank you," the Princess sighed. "But I must ask, why should you defend me, if you have yet to learn my true name?"

"I couldn't let that creature take you." Sam replied, turning to face the girl. "It'd be wrong for me to stand by and let it take you back to that dungeon. Besides, something was telling me to defend you."

"Hmm..."

_You seem troubled, Princess._

"Huh?" the Princess asked. "Did you just hear that?"

"I heard it," Sam replied.

They turned to spring. A figure stood before them, illuminated in a light. The figure was a goat of some sort, most likely an Ordon Goat.

"Ones cloaked in twilight, I thank you," the goat said. "I am the Ordon Spirit, Ordona."

"Ordona," the Princess began. "I must ask you, is there any known way to restore Sam to his original form?"

"There is one way. Go to the woods to the north, Faron Wood. There you shall find the Spirit Faron, he can help you."

"Thank you. Come on Sam, you'll be back to your old self in no time."


	3. Power of Light

The Princess led the way up the path to a long wooden bridge. They crossed it and went through a small canyon until they came to a black wall.

"This is the Twilight," the Princess explained. "All of the land beyond this point is dangerous. Are you sure you want to go in?"

"If it's the only way to get to normal again, I'm all for it," Sam replied. "Let's go."

They stepped through the barrier and entered into Faron Wood. The cloudless sky was blood red and black snow fell to the ground.

"It's this way."

They walked up the path through a clearing, then into another clearing in the trees. The Princess kept one hand on the hilt of the Ordon Sword.

"Something wrong?" Sam asked.

"Keep your guard up," the girl warned. "More Twilight Messengers are coming."

"More of them? How many?"

"Three."

The clearing was surrounded by a dark barrier. From the sky, another red cloud appeared and three Twilight Messengers fell out.

"Princess!" one growled. "You must come with us at once!"

"Leave the wolf, Princess!" the second demanded. "He doesn't deserve your pity!"

"My pity?!" the Princess snarled. "I'm not showing him any pity! I'm helping him because I know it's right!"

"You may think it's right, but it really isn't." the third laughed. "What will you do, once he has returned to his true form? You'll have nowhere to go but back to the capitol."

"That place is full of demons. I would not return there even if I were not punished for escaping!"

The Princess drew out the short sword from it's scabbard. The Twilight Messengers closed in around the two. The Princess knelt down and touched the ground lightly with her left hand.

A dark ring spread along the ground and stopped to where the Twilight Messengers were inside the ring.

"Sam, see the dark ring around us?" the Princess whispered.

"Yes, what about it?" Sam asked.

"It's something like a target system. Anything inside the ring is a target, and you have the ability to kill each with one hit."

"What's the importance of it?"

"Twilight Messengers can bring each other back to life. If you killed two of the them, the last would screech and bring the other two back."

"So, use the ring to defeat them?"

"Exactly."

"Then just tell me when."

The Twilight Messengers were closer now, and still coming. Each raised a claw, ready to strike.

* * *

"Now!"

Sam bolted at one Twilight Messenger, struck it down, then leaped for the other two. He struck both and all the creatures exploded.

"I might be able to get used to this wolf form." Sam laughed.

"Don't get too used to it." the Princess said as she stood up. "You'll never get used to your real body again. Come on, the spring is just over there."

They walked up the path to another spring. Black flowers lined the egde of the pool, and a cave led farther up the road.

A dull ball of light floated above the water.

"The light is gone..." a voice sighed. "Must find the light...Please, find the light."

A short golden rod appeared at the edge of the pool. Clear crystal balls were tied to the rod with thin strands of gold wool.

"The Vessel of Light," the Princess said. "It holds the light that is missing in the Twilight."

"The Twilight insects," the voice warned. "Watch out for them, they have taken the light."

"Sam, you'll have to get the insects on your own."

"You mean, you can't help?" Sam asked.

"I would if I had the ability to see them. But I don't have the sense of a wolf, so I can't help."

"How exactly do I find them then?"

"Use your nose."

"...Your kidding, right?"

"No, I'm completely serious. Wolves have a far better sense of smell than humans do. Since you are a wolf, you have the senses of your form, but your still human at heart."

"Then I guess I'll get going."

Sam knelt down and picked up the golden rod. He walked up the path, into the cave and out of sight.

* * *

About an hour later, Sam returned with the golden rod. The crystal balls along the rod were glowing with light.

The Princess was standing near the cave entrance, although she seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

"Princess?" Sam asked. "You okay?"

"What?" the Princess replied. "Oh, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"With that much thinking, a Twilight Messenger could have come and taken you off, and you wouldn't have even noticed."

"Possible. Oh, you've gotten all the light back?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now walk a small way into the pool. And you'll be wanting these."

The Princess set the sword and shield on the ground at the edge of the pool.

Sam walked into the spring and stopped a few feet from the center. The golden rod vanished as well as the dull ball of light.

The sky above turned blue, the black snow stopped falling and the ground turned green again. The flowers around the edge of the pool turned white. The sun was shining through the trees, giving a soft glow to the flowers.

A figure bathed a light appeared in the spring. The figure was a monkey with a long tail and pointed ears.

"The light has returned," the figure sighed. "I, the spirit Faron, thank you. Take a look at yourself. You're free of your wolf form."

Sam looked over himself. He was back to normal, though he was wearing a green tunic and flopped over hat. He wore leather boots and a thin sheet of chain-mail under the tunic. Strapped to his belt was the Ordon Sword, on his back was the Ordon Shield.

"Those garments once belonged to a great hero, who saved Hyrule long ago," Faron explained. "For you to be wearing the garments, means the gods have chosen you, Sam, to be the next great hero."

"But, why should I be the hero?" Sam asked. "I thought Link was the hero who wore the green tunic."

"I can say no more. Your journey has begun and your friend shall help you along the way. Good-bye."

Faron vanished. Sam sighed, then turned around to look at the Princess. The girl seemed to be staring at him in disbelief.

"Uhh..." Sam asked. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," the Princess replied. "But maybe, you can explain something to me."

* * *

The Princess reached for her hood and pulled it back. Sam now stared at her in disbelief. She had slightly tangled, short, dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes. Sam recognized her at once.

"Lara?!" he exclaimed. "How did you get here?!"

"Ahh, I was right," Lara laughed. "I'm not the only one that was captured and brought here."

"Bu--How'd you get here? You've been missing since yesterday!"

"Yesterday? I'd have thought it'd been longer than that. I've been here nearly a week!"

"A week?"

"Yeah. You only just got here yesterday. I saw you in the wolf form being carried into the dungeon. But, I didn't know it was you."

"Who'd you think it was?"

"Well, at first I thought you were Link. But then you said your name was Sam and that threw me off for a second."

"So, you chose to wait out to see who I really was?"

"To make a long story short, yes."

"Where are we exactly?" Sam asked.

"We are in the Faron Province, in Hyrule," Lara replied. "Faron Wood, to be exact."

"Hyrule...You mean Hyrule, as in from the Legend of Zelda games?"

"That's the one."

"And I take it, this is one I have yet to play?"

"This would be the Hyrule of the newest game."

"Twilight Princess."

"Yup."

"Then why am I in Link's gear?"

"Well, seeing as how Link was never born, I'm guessing you've been given his task as the hero."

"Link was never born? What do mean?"

"Well, before Link was born in this Hyrule, both his parents were killed, thus Link was never born."

"Still don't quite get it."

"Neither do I, but I'm guessing you've been given some relation to someone in Ordon Village."

"How so?"

"...Never mind, I'll explain when we cross that bridge. But what I don't get, is why I'm here."

"Well, who brought you here?"

"No idea, they knocked me out cold before I could see his face."

"Wait a second..."

"Hmm?"

"Doesn't Link usually have a partner?"

"Only in the few recent games...but yes, Link does have a partner in this particular game."

"There you go, you're my partner."

"I guess so."

"So, what first?"

"First off, check out your bag for any items."

Sam looked down at his belt, where a small nap sack had been built in. It was only big enough to hold a small glass bottle.

"You sure?" Sam asked, opening the bag and sticking his hand in. "It only looks big enough for-"

* * *

Sam felt smooth metal at his fingertips. He gripped the metal and pulled it out. He had been expecting a shard from a sword, but instead he pulled out a lantern.

"How did that get in there?" Sam asked.

"I guess you've forgotten that Link's small bag holds a lot of stuff," Lara laughed. "That bag can hold alot of stuff, and it doesn't add any weight to slow you down."

"That's cool."

Sam handed Lara the lantern, then stuck his hand into the bag again. He pulled out two glass bottles, a slingshot, a fishing rod and fifty pumpkin seeds.

"What're the pumpkin seeds for?" he asked.

"You can use them as ammo for the slingshot," Lara replied.

"...Can I use them for food right now? I'm starving."

"Yeah, go ahead. You can also find some Deku-Baba to kill, since they drop Deku-Seeds."

"You want any?"

"No thanks, I'm not that hungry."

Sam quickly ate the pumpkin seeds, then placed the equipment back into the bag.

"So, where first?" he asked.

"First off, we've got to get the gate key from the oil seller."

"And, should we get some oil while we're there?"

"Yes, we'll need it for the first dungeon."


	4. Faron Woods

They walked through the tunnel and out into the small clearing. There was a gate that stood by the cliff, and another that blocked off the forest exit.

A dark haired, dark skinned man dressed in ratty clothes, sat in front of the small shed along the cliff. There was a pot full of oil sitting next to him.

"Umm..." Lara pondered.

"Hmm?" Sam asked. "What is it?"

"I'm trying to remember how to get the key from him."

"You mean, we can't just ask?"

"We could try, but I doubt it'll work."

"I'll try it anyway."

Sam walked up to the man.

"Ahh, the kid from Ordon Village." the man laughed. "What can I do for you?"

"Uhh...I was wondering if I could have the key to the gate-" Sam began.

"Oh, the one into the dark tunnel, you mean?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"So long as you got a lantern with oil, I can't stop you. Here."

The man pulled a small key from his pocket and handed it Sam. Sam walked back to Lara, who seemed to be thinking again.

"Lara, you really gotta stop thinking so much," Sam laughed.

"Hmm?" Lara asked, looking at Sam. "Did you say something?"

"I said, you should stop thinking so much."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay, I'm just letting you know that you space out if you think too much. Come on."

Sam walked over to the gate and unlocked it. The wooden door swung open with a soft creak. Sam pulled out the lantern and lit it.

"Come on," he repeated. "Stay close, we don't want to lose each other in the dark."

They walked into the dark cave, which slowly sloped uphill. A small patch of grass grew to the left of the path, moving slightly with a small breeze coming from the entrance.

"Is there anything to fight in here?" Sam asked. "Other than the few Twilight bats I ran into earlier."

"There should be some rats and a Deku-Baba or two," Lara replied. "They hide in weeds, then jump out when a person least expects it."

"Hmm...You might want to take the lantern."

"Okay."

Lara took the lantern, then Sam drew out his sword and shield.

"You do know how to use those, right?" Lara asked.

"No, not really," Sam replied. "Can't be that hard though, can it?"

"You'd be surprised."

* * *

They continued through the cave, looking to either side of the path for any signs of an attack. The tunnel ended, opening up to a swamp.

The trees high above blocked out most of the sun light, so it still seemed like they were in the cave. Lifting the lantern a bit higher, they could see purple mist above the damp ground.

"I knew I forgot about something," Lara growled. "We can't go through that mist."

"Why not?" Sam asked. "Seems harmless enough."

"If you want to go in there and choke to death, be my guest. That's not normal mist, it's poisonous."

"Then how're we going to get around it?"

"We're not going around it. We're going right through to the other side."

"But you just said we'd die from breathing it in."

"True I did, but that's where the monkey comes in."

"Monkey?"

Lara held the lantern out in front of her. A flash of white sped past them and grabbed the lantern. Standing in front of them, with a long stick and the lantern in hand was a white monkey.

The monkey was female, judging from the red flower tied to it's left ear. She was motioning for them to follow her.

"Monkey," Lara said.

"You're not going to let me figure out anything myself, are you?" Sam asked.

"What do you--Oh, I'm doing the whole know-it-all thing again. Sorry, I'll shut up now."

"Right...Lets follow the monkey."

They followed the monkey towards the mist. It continued to wave the lantern in the air, which cleared up some mist to make a path.

It took them a few minutes to get all the way across, with the occasional attack from Deku-Babas.

They walked up a slight hill, to another gate. It was opened, so they wouldn't have to go searching for a key. Once they had stepped onto the top of the hill, the mist closed in again, blocking the path.

* * *

The monkey set down the lantern and ran off past the gate.

"Come on," Sam said, picking up the lantern.

Sam led the way through the trees. They soon came to a clearing, where the sun was shining down onto the ground.

"I don't remember the path being that long," Lara said. "Oh well, at least we're out of the cave."

"Good thing too," Sam sighed. "The lantern went out just as we got into this clearing."

"It did?"

"Yeah."

"We can get more oil at the shop."

Lara pointed towards a small stall that was set into the side of the cliff. Two pots stood to the side, one filled with red liquid, the other with yellow.

A blue parrot sat on a post near the pots, with a small box beside it.

"So, do we just take some and leave the money?" Sam asked.

"Pay first!" the parrot squawked. "Twenty for red, twenty for yellow!"

"He means Rupee, right?"

"Yup." Lara replied.

"But, I don't have any."

Lara slipped her left hand into her cloak and pulled out a small bag. She handed it to Sam, who opened it to find it stuffed with Rupees.

"How did you get all of this?" Sam asked. "There must be three hundred Rupees in here!"

"This is what happens when you go exploring for an escape route and find the Royal Family treasure," Lara replied.

"Well, lets get some of both liquids."

Sam placed two red Rupee into the box, then filled one glass bottle with the red liquid and the other with the yellow liquid.

"We'd better hurry," Lara said, looking up into the sky. "It'll be night soon."

Sam placed the bottles into the bag again. Then they continued through the thinning trees, towards the first dungeon.


	5. Hero's Shade

They soon came to the end of the forest, where they found a grand tree growing up from the bottom of the canyon.

It had white bark, was a one sixth of a mile wide, and over one fourth of a mile tall. A long branch grew down to the edge of the cliff, forming a staircase.

"That's the first dungeon?" Sam asked.

"Yup," Lara replied.

"How long do you think it'll take to get finished here?"

"I'm not sure how long it'll take. But I'm guessing it will take us all night and some of tomorrow morning."

"So, that's about twelve hours?"

"Most likely, if we're fast."

"Then we-" Sam stopped in his tracks.

"Sam?" Lara asked, turning to look at him.

"Stay back."

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"Do you see that wolf, at the bottom of the stairs?"

Lara looked to where he was looking. A white wolf with bright red eyes sat at the bottom of the stairs, it seemed to be guarding the dungeon.

"You mean that white wolf?" Lara asked, turning back to Sam.

"Yeah," Sam replied, stepping forward with the sword and shield in hand. "Stay back."

"But-"

* * *

Sam ran at the wolf. The creature leaped forward, knocking Sam to the ground. Sam got up to his feet and looked around.

He was no longer in the forest, but in a field. Fog covered the ground, making it impossible for Sam to his feet In the distance, he could make out the outline of a castle. Lara was nowhere to be found.

Sam felt a chill down his spine, as if someone were watching him. He whirled around to see the white wolf. It looked at Sam for a long, silent moment, then lifted it's head and howled.

There was a flash of light, and a new figure took the wolf's place. A red eyed skeleton stood before Sam, dressed in ancient, cracked armor. In it's right hand was a longsword, while in it's left hand was a cracked shield.

The skeleton was in attack position, but seemed to be waiting for Sam to make the first move. Sam wasn't sure what to do, but he guessed he was supposed to fight this skeleton.

He ran at the skeleton, swung the sword--and was thrown down onto the ground.

"A sword holds no strength, unless the one who holds it has courage," the skeleton said. "Can you honestly call yourself a hero, if you cannot fight with a sword?"

"Probably not," Sam growled as he stood up again. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"I have no name. Though some call me Hero's Shade. What I want, is to teach you the ways of sword-play."

"And you're doing this because?"

"If you cannot fight with a sword, should there be any point in trying?"

"I suppose not."

"Now, if you'll kindly take up your sword and shield, we'll begin."

"Wait. First I want to know where my friend is."

"She's safe in the forest."

"Alright."

Sam held the sword in his right hand and the shield in his left hand.

"Some enemies will not die from being struck with a powerful attack," the skeleton said. "They'll get up and attack again. This first technique, will allow you to strike down an enemy who is stunned. Strike me down, then leap and stab me with your sword."

"And you're sure I won't kill you?" Sam asked.

"Well, seeing as I am already dead, you can't really kill me."

"True."

"Stop dawdling. Come on, attack me!"

Sam ran forward and struck Hero's Shade down with one hit. He leaped up and brought the sword, blade down into the skeleton's chest. He jumped back, pulling the sword out of the thick armor.

"Excellent!" Hero's Shade exclaimed, getting to his feet. "That move is known as Ending Blow, the first of seven Hidden Skills."

"So, six left to learn," Sam said.

"Indeed. May we meet again."

* * *

There was another flash of light, and Sam found he was in the forest again. He was lying on his back, Lara knelt beside him.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Sam replied, pushing himself upright.

"Careful. You took a blow to the head."

"I did? I don't remember hitting my head."

"Well, you did. And you've been out for the past hour."

"Didn't feel like an hour. Felt more like twenty minutes."

"Ahh, you met Hero's Shade."

"The skeleton in ancient armor?"

"That's him. He taught you the first Hidden Skill, Ending Blow, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Do you think you can walk?"

"I think so."

Lara stood up and held her hand down to Sam. He took it and Lara pulled him up to his feet. His legs were a bit shaky, but he could walk without too much trouble.

"Here," Lara said, handing him a long wooden staff. "You'll be able to keep your balance until your legs aren't so weak."

"Thanks," Sam sighed. "Come on."

They climbed up the stairs; taking one step at a time so Sam wouldn't trip. At the top of the stairs there was an opening in the side of the tree. The opening was blocked by a large spider web.

"Take the lantern," Sam said, pulling the lantern and bottle of oil from the bag. "And the bottle of oil."

Lara took both, poured the oil into the lantern and handed the bottle back to Sam. She lit the lantern, walked to the web and set the sticky strands on fire.

The web burned to a crisp and broke to pieces, opening the path forward.

"Come on," Lara said, turning to Sam. "We'll be a bit safer inside."


	6. Forest Temple, Part One

They entered the darkness of the grand tree. The lantern lit up the path, showing them what was ahead. The air smelled sour and breathing in too much made Sam's head spin.

"There must be a ton of mold growing in here," he said. "It's not helping with my allergies."

"Same here," Lara sniffed. "I didn't know the air was like this. If I had, I'd have warned you."

"I don't see how you'd have known. I mean, it's a game, the only thing you can experience is sight and sound."

"True."

They walked into a clearing, the first room of the dungeon. The room was literally carved out of the tree. The ceiling high above was covered with vines, moss and dark yellow sap.

Grass grew along the dirt path, most likely hiding any Deku Baba from sight. Some thick vines grew up along the left wall and came to a wooden platform.

At the other end of the room was a short wall, with vines growing up to the top. Two Bokoblins stood at the foot of the wall.

Both had tatty blue fur, sharp black teeth and beady red eyes. They were guarding a wooden cage, where the female monkey was locked up.

"Up for some fighting?" Lara asked.

"I'm up for anything right now," Sam said. He handing the staff to Lara. "I'll take the one on the left, you take the right."

"Alright."

Sam drew out the sword, leaving the shield strapped to his back. Gripping the brown handle in both hands, he ran forward, ready to strike the Bokoblin.

Two swift strikes, the creature was down, but still alive. Sam leaped and brought the sword, blade down into the Bokoblin's chest.

The Bokoblin vanished in a puff of black and red smoke. Sam stood up and turned to see Lara having some trouble with the other Bokoblin.

A Deku Baba shot out of the grass behind Lara and lunged towards her.

"Lara, behind you!" Sam yelled.

Lara ducked just in time. The Deku Baba snapped the Bokoblin's neck in half. Lara stabbed the Deku Baba's nut shaped head with the tip of her staff, killing it at once.

"That would have hurt." Lara growled, walked out of the grass. "Thanks for the warning."

"I don't think that staff is going to be much help for fighting." Sam said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It doesn't even have a sharp end."

"That's why I have a back up plan for a weapon."

Lara untied the cloak from her shoulders and wrapped it into a bundle. This was the first time she'd taken off the cloak in the past day.

* * *

She wore a midnight blue tunic, leather boots, a leather belt, a pair of thin brown leggings and a sheet of chainmail under the tunic. Two long, brown hilted daggers were strapped to the belt, one on the left, one on the right.

She had a leather gauntlet on her left arm, but nothing on the right.

"Always have a back up plan." she said.

"Why do you only have one gauntlet?" Sam asked. "I mean, I don't have any. But if you have one you should have the other too."

"I couldn't find the other gauntlet that matched this one."

"Oh. Well, lets keep going."

Sam turned to the monkey, who was still trapped in the cage. He sheathed the sword and began to find a weak spot in the cage.

"You want some advice?"

"Nah, I've got it."

Sam took hold of the lid and pulled it up. The entire cage fell apart once the lid had been removed.

The monkey climbed up the vines to the level above, then looked back at them.

"She wants us to follow her." Sam said, turning to Lara. "Should I go up first?"

"Go ahead." Lara replied.

Sam turned back to the wall and began to climb. He reached the top fairly quickly. He turned to see Lara was almost to the top as well. As soon as they were both up, they turned towards the door.

They walked to the back wall, where the circular door stood. There wasn't any handle, but there was a strange painting on it. It was the sign for the Kokiri Tribe, painted in blood.

Sam placed both hands on the door and pushed. The door rolled to one side, inside the wall, showing the room beyond. They stepped through the opening and the door slid back into place.

In the center of the room, stood a wooden platform with a staircase leading up to it from the floor below. The white monkey stood at the foot of the stairs, hiding her face from something on the platform.

Sam looked up towards the ceiling. A hugh red, black and white spider hung above the platform. It was the size of a lion, with four beady green eyes.

"You wanna kill that Skulltalu, or can I?" Lara asked.

"I'll get it down," Sam replied, taking out the slingshot and a few Deku Seeds. "You can kill it though."

Sam took aim for the Skulltalu and let a Deku Seed fly. The spider was hit, it fell onto the platform, still alive but stunned.

"Right, stay up here." Lara laughed, unsheathing both daggers. "This could get a bit messy."

* * *

Lara leaped down from the platform and ran up the stairs. The Skulltalu was waiting for her, white slime dripping from it's pinchers. It lunged at her, though she easily dogded the attack.

She leaped up into the Skulltalu's back and stabbed both daggers straight through it's skull. The spider fell to the ground and crumbled to dust.

"That wasn't nearly as enjoyable or bloody as I thought it'd be." she sighed, sheathing her daggers. "Oh well, at least it's dead."

"So, where now?" Sam asked, walking up the stairs.

"We've got to go up there."

Lara nodded towards the platform across from them. There was no way to get across, the stairs that led up to it had fallen into the ground.

"Hmm...What'll happen if I light up these torches?" Sam asked.

"Light 'em up and see." Lara replied.

Sam took out the lantern and lit it. After lighting each of the torches, the staircase to the platform raised up, allowing them to pass.

They walked up the stairs, following the white monkey. Sam opened the door and they each stepped through, onto a cliff. They stood near a gorge, where the wind blew violently.

The monkey began to make it's way across the wooden bridge that streched across the gorge. Sam began to follow, but Lara grabbed his arm and held him back.

"What?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"Watch and see," Lara replied. She nodded towards the bridge.

Sam turned back to see a second, larger monkey had appeared on the other side of the bridge. In it's hand was a boomerang that glowed with a dark light.

The female monkey turned and ran back towards Sam and Lara, just as the other monkey threw the boomerang. The airborne weapon slashed through the cords holding up the bridge.

The bridge broke in half and fell, taking the female monkey with it. The larger monkey ran into the room across the gorge. A moment later, the female monkey climbed up the remains of the bridge and ran back to the door.

"Oh." Sam said, looking back at Lara. "Are you going to let go of my arm now?"

"Oh, sorry!" Lara exclaimed, letting go of Sam's arm. Her cheeks grew to a light red color. "I forgot I was still holding it."

"Don't worry about it. Come on, we'd better follow the monkey."


	7. Forest Temple, Part Two

The monkey led them through the maze of rooms, coming to find three other monkeys. After setting free each of the monkeys and coming back to the broken bridge, Sam had gotten an idea of what the monkeys were up to. 

"The monkeys want us to stop that bigger monkey, right?" he asked.

"Yup." Lara replied. "These monkeys follow the bigger monkey, he's their leader. But he's being controlled, so he can't tell the difference between friend and foe."

"So, the monkeys want us to wake him up."

"Yup."

"And the monkeys are going to help us get across the gorge?"

"Yup."

"Are you only going to say 'yup'?"

"Nope."

"Thank gosh."

"Okay, come on you four."

The female monkey climbed up onto the rope above the bridge and hung down from her feet. Each of the other monkeys did the same, taking a place farther down the rope, all the way to the end.

"You want me to go first?" Lara asked.

"That's really dangerous." Sam said. "Isn't there some other way across?"

"Not until we get the dungeon weapon."

"Then I'll go first."

Sam backed up a few steps and took a running leap for the female monkey's open paws. The monkey caught him and threw him to the next monkey.

Each monkey threw and caught him all the way to the other side of the gorge. He landed lightly on the stone and turned around to see Lara was about half way across the gorge.

The last monkey threw Lara to the cliff. She landed on her feet but a swift gust of wind made her lose balance. She was falling towards the edge of the cliff.

Sam grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the legde. He held her in a tight hug for a moment then let her go.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied. "That's the second time you've saved me today."

"Just don't make it a habit of getting into trouble. Come on."

* * *

They turned to the door and walked toward it. It was the same as the other doors, wooden, circular and the symbol of the Kokiri Tribe painted on the door in blood.

Sam opened the door and they walked into a dark chamber. Moonlight shined from a large hole in the ceiling and one in the wall, lighting up the room.

In the center of the room was a totem pole, which was surrounded by six other totem poles. Standing on the center totem pole was the large monkey.

The monkey threw the dark boomerang towards the ceiling. There was a sound like ripping vines and three Baba Serpents fell onto the ground.

The Baba Serpents were bigger than Deku Babas, but there was very little difference between the two. The red Baba Serpents were slithering towards them, their razor sharp teeth bared.

"Don't get caught by a Baba Serpent," Lara said. She drew out both her daggers, ready to fight. "They'll pin you down and leave you open to an attack from the monkey!"

Sam took out his sword and shield and struck the closest of the three Baba Serpents. It, like most of the enemies had, exploded. Something hit Sam's left shoulder, cutting through the tunic and making a deep cut in his flesh.

"Ahh!" Sam dropped the sword and held his shoulder with his right hand. "What the heck was that?!"

"It was the boomerang!" Lara replied. She'd killed the other Baba Serpents and had rushed to Sam to check his wound. "It's a deep cut, but I don't think the bone was hit."

"If it's not serious, then it can wait. We've got to get rid of the monkey."

"You'll want to use your sword, so put away the shield."

Sam put away the shield and after wiping his blood-covered hand on the grass, he picked up the sword. The monkey was jumping from pillar to pillar, keeping a tight grip on the boomerang.

It stopped and threw the boomerang towards them. They easily dogded the attack and both rushed to the totem pole where the monkey was.

Together, they kicked the totem pole, throwing the monkey off balance. The boomerang came back and smacked the monkey in the face, throwing him to the ground.

"Quick!" Lara exclaimed. "Prop the sword under the headpiece and pull it off!"

Sam pushed the blade between the headpiece and the monkey's face and pulled the brown mask off. It wasn't really a mask, it was a huge bug the size of a football.

The bug flew into the air and landed a few feet away. It began to crawl away, but Lara leaped and stabbed both her daggers into it's back.

It crumbled to ashes, leaving no traces of it. The monkey sat up and after quickly realizing what was going on, it escaped through the hole in the wall.

The boomerang lost it's dark light and now glowed with a pure light. Half was made of stiff, razor sharp, white feathers, the other half was made of smooth polished wood. The two pieces were held together with a thick strand of gold.

* * *

"It's called the Gale boomerang," Lara said. "It--Oh, gosh! Sam, your shoulder!"

Sam looked down at his shoulder. It had continued to bleed and with so much moving it had bled out quite alot. Blood was dripping down his arm and onto the grass, making a small red puddle.

"You might want to take care of this now," Sam said.

Lara sheathed her daggers and took the sword from Sam, placing it on the ground. Sam sat next to the wall and leaned his back against the wood.

"I'd have thought the chain mail would protect my shoulders," he sighed. "Why didn't it?"

"I think the chain mail is so thin that the boomerang cut the metal." Lara replied. "Hold on, I'm gonna find some dry wood."

"What for?"

"You don't feel cold?"

"No."

Lara knelt down and placed a hand on Sam's forehead.

"Hmm...Well, you don't have a fever, that's good. You're probably just a bit overheated from the fighting, so you can't feel the cold."

She stood up again and began to search the room for some dry wood. She found some, but not much. She set up the wood into a pile, then surrounded the wood with some small boulders.

"I need the lantern," she said.

"Here," Sam replied. He pulled out the lantern and placed it on the ground.

Lara picked it up and dripped a small amount of oil onto the wood. Then she took two small rocks and striked them together, sending sparks onto the wood.

The wood lit up, quickly giving light to the dark area of the room. Lara reached into the small bag strapped to her own belt and pulled out a wooden box.

"You found a magic bag too," Sam laughed. "Better that we both have one, so we both can carry stuff."

"You want some sort of pain killer for this?" Lara asked.

"For what?"

Lara held up a long needle with a tin leather cord strung into the hole.

"...You're going to sew up my shoulder?" he asked.

"Yup."

"What kind of pain killers do you have?"

"I have two things. One will numb you up, the other will knock you out for a few hours."

"And what are they both called?"

"One is a bottle of rum I found in the castle kitchens while I was exploring. The other is a small bat that I'll hit you over the head with."

"Either way, you'll have to go run around by yourself or stay here until I can get up again...You'll be able to defend yourself, right?"

"Most likely the only thing I'd have trouble with would be the boss of the dungeon, but I'm not going to go that far."

"Numb me up, then knock me out. I'll feel the least amount of pain that way."

"Okay."

* * *

Lara removed a glass bottle and a wooden bat from the box. She knelt beside Sam and pulled the top off the bottle.

"This might sting at first, but it'll only be for a minute." Lara said. "And, you should pull your arm out of the tunic."

Sam carefully pulled his arm free from the sleeve of the tunic. It was somewhat painful, but not enough for him to say anything.

"Brace yourself, it's gonna hurt," she said. She dripped a small amount of the brown liquid onto the open wound.

Sam could hardly hold back a yelp. It felt like his arm was on fire, yet it didn't stop burning.

The burning sensation quickly passed and the numbness overtook his whole body to where could hardly even feel the slight breeze. He also felt dizzy, as if he'd drunk one too many alcoholic drinks.

"You okay?" Lara asked as she put the top onto the bottle.

"Other then my whole body being numb, and having a slight feeling of being drunk, I'm fine."

"Alright, I won't hit you hard then."

"No wait," Sam gasped. "I think the alcohol is--"


	8. Forest Temple, Part Three

Sam looked around. He found himself standing along a cliff that over looked a deep pool. He saw himself as a wolf, lying on the ground unconscious. The man in black with the metal mask had a tight hold on Lara's neck, holding her above the groud, choking her. 

But Sam couldn't move, it was like he'd been paralyzed, forced to watch his friend die. An imp appeared behind Lara and yelled something at the man.

From the looks of it, the imp was female. She had a helmet on her head, with a ponytail of flame red hair sticking out from the top. Her face was hidden in shadow from under the helmet, but her red eyes glowed out from the darkness.

The man let go and Lara and she fell to the ground, gasping for air. The imp and the man shared some spiteful words, most of it Sam couldn't hear.

The man grabbed the imp's arm and a dark glowing light surrounded the imp. He let go of the imp and said: "Now, Midna, will you do the honors of killing the girl?"

"Gladly," Midna replied. She snapped her fingers and a pair of metal boots appeared on Lara's feet.

"Midna!" Lara gasped, trying to stand up. "Don't do this! You know it's not right!"

"Shut up! I follow my King's orders!"

"Your King?! Midna, snap out of it! Zant isn't your King!"

"Have fun in your last moments of life."

Midna held up her hand and pointed towards the deep pool. Lara flew off the cliff and into the water. The man in black and Midna vanished.

Sam broke free from his paralyzed prison and dived into the water. He swam to the bottom where Lara was trying to unlatch the metal boots. But the boots had formed to fit her feet tightly, and make them hard to remove.

A strong wave came up from the stone floor, pushing Sam to the surface. The metal boots prevented Lara from moving, but she reached up towards Sam's own outstretched arm.

But he was too far away to grab her, there was nothing he could do. There was a blinding light the surrounded Sam, then the light turned to fire. Flames were everywhere around him, yet in the distance he could see a figure and-

* * *

Sam bolted up right, gasping for breath. He was still in the Forest Temple, or so Lara had called it. The camp fire was out and Sam now felt how cold it was.

He looked around to find Lara was sitting next to the wall, her back leaning against the wood. She had her cloak wrapped around her, seemed like she was asleep.

'It was just a dream...' he sighed. 'Must've been from the alcohol.'

Sam looked at his shoulder. It had been sewed up and bandages were tied around it to stop the bleeding. He looked towards the hole in the wall, where he could just see the setting moon.

"I've been out for a while," he said. Sam got to his feet, keeping one hand on the wall to balance himself. He noticed something next to the burnt pile of wood.

He walked over to it and picked it up. It was a fish, about ten inches long. It was still raw.

"You can cook that, right?"

Sam jumped in surprise and turned to see Lara was awake.

"I didn't wake you up, did I?" he asked.

"You kinda did, but it's okay I'd have woken up anyway," she yawned. "That must've been a pretty bad dream you were having. You were moaning in your sleep."

"Then why didn't you wake me up?"

"I tried, but I couldn't wake you up. It was almost like you were trapped in your subconscious mind."

"Felt worse than that."

"You want to talk about it?"

"Nah, it was just a dream from the alcohol."

"Okay. Speaking of which, how is your shoulder feeling?"

"It's feeling better."

"Good. Oh, I went searching around the temple. Got the rest of the stuff we needed to find."

Lara pulled a black key from her pocket. It was iron with a ruby in the center of the handle.

"And I found the rest of the monkeys, so we have a clear path to the last room." she said. "We can get going as soon as you've had something to eat."

"No, we can get going once _you've_ had something to eat and gotten some sleep." Sam protested. "I havn't seen you eat anything since we met up and you look like a zombie."

"...Okay, but I'm not going to eat much."

"Then get some sleep while I'm cooking this fish."

"Just don't burn it."

"I'll try not to."

* * *

"Now, see?" Sam said. "You look alot better than you did an hour ago."

"But I don't feel better," Lara replied. "And I don't have much of an appetite-"

"Oh, no you don't! You're not getting out of food from an excuse like that. You're not going to survive on sleep and water alone, you need food too."

"But-"

"Just eat something. We can't get very far if you end up sick."

Lara picked up a slice of the cooked fish and stuffed it into her mouth. Sam stared into the flames of the fire, deep in thought.

"Got something on your mind?" Lara asked.

"Sort of," he replied. "Is there someone called Zant, in the game?"

Lara nearly choked at that. She had a look of shock and fear on her face, though her eyes had a look of anger.

"How do you know that name?!" she asked.

"He was in that dream I had," Sam replied. "Along with an imp called Midna."

"Wait...Was Zant the one who brought you here?"

"I think so."

"Are you ever going to tell him?" a new voice snarled.

Lara's shadow took a physical form. It was the red haired imp Sam had seen in his dream.

"I told you not to come out into the open!" Lara hissed.

"And you think that I take orders from you?" Midna snarled. "Think again! Thanks to your stupidity, we have to follow _this_ guy around!"

Lara whirled around and pinned Midna to the ground.

"Now you listen here, Midna!" Lara yelled. "I don't care what _you_ think, I'm going to follow him whether if you agree to it or not! So keep it to yourself!"

Midna snarled something, then resumed her position as Lara's shadow.

"Please tell me you can explain." Sam said. "Because right now, I'm really confused."

"No time now," Lara replied. "We should hurry up and finish off the boss."

"And then will you explain?"

"Yes, then I'll explain...as best as I can anyway. Come on, I know where to go."

* * *

Sam followed Lara through the temple to a large room. There was a platform on the other side of another gorge.

There was a branch that hung over the gorge and hanging down from the branch were eight white monkeys.

The monkey holding to the branch had hold of the next monkey's feet and it kept going down to the end with the last monkey having free hands.

They were swinging back and forth, going from one platform to the other.

"One big swing to the boss," Lara said. "I'll go first."

"And what if you trip and fall off the platform?" Sam asked.

"I doubt that'll happen. It was the wind that threw me off before and there isn't any wind here."

Lara turned to the swinging monkeys. They were coming towards them, the last monkey holding out it's hands. Lara leaped and grabbed the monkey's hands.

The monkeys went back to the other platform and threw Lara safely onto the platform. She stood up and waved to Sam. It was his turn.

The monkeys were coming back, fairly close to when Lara had jumped. Sam leaped and the monkey caught his hands. They swung back and the monkey let go of Sam's hands when they were above the platform.

Sam landed with a slight thud, but he was okay. He stood up and followed Lara down a short hall. At the end of the hallway was a huge door, locked with black chains and a black padlock.

"I'm not sure if either of us can reach the padlock," Sam said. "And I doubt that either of us can hold up the other one."

"Well, you can't with that shoulder...Midna, can you do it?"

Midna appeared again, she had a sour look on her face.

"I guess since neither of you can," Midna growled. She took the black key from Lara and floated up to the padlock.

The imp stuck the key in and turned it. The padlock clicked and fell to the ground with a crashed. The chains fell to either side of the door.

Midna vanished again. The large door opened, showing the final room. There was a pool of purple water taking up about half of the room. The entire room smelled like acid.

Lara pulled out the Gale Boomerang from her own bag and handed it to Sam. They walked farther into the room, the door closed and locked behind them.

The water began to bubble, something was coming up. Two gigantic Baba Serpent heads shot out of the water. Sam took notice of a few Bomblings sitting on the hollow logs in the water.

He aimed the boomerang at a Bombling and threw it. In a whirlwind of feathers and flower petals, the boomerang flew to the bomb insect, caught it in the wind and brought it back to Sam.

The Bombling was glowing green and red. One of the Baba Serpents shot out at Sam. He threw the Bombling into the Baba Serpent's open mouth.

The Baba Serpent snapped it's mouth shut and the Bombling exploded. Both of the Baba Serpents sunk back into the water.

"Is it dead?" Sam asked.

"Not yet," Lara replied.

* * *

The water began to bubble agian, only this time it was something much bigger. A hiddious monster erupted from the murky water.

It was like a plant, yet it had razor sharp teeth that could rip a person in half. Purple goo dripped from it's mouth and fell onto the ground.

Where ever the purple goo landed, the grass turned black and withered away. It reared back it's long head and the smell of rotting flesh mixed in with the acid.

"Run!" Lara yelled. "Back corner, now!"

Sam turned and ran towards the farthest corner of the room. He reached it in a few seconds. He turned around to see Lara shoot a Deku Seed into the monster's opening mouth.

There was no effect. The monster's mouth was opened all the way and a spray of brown liquid flew out, showering Lara in the liquid.

She stood motionless for a moment, then once the monster closed it's mouth, Lara looked over herself. She was covered in what appeared to be mud, though she wasn't hurt.

"What the..." she began to say. "Nothing happened!"

"And this tells us what?" Sam asked.

"Tells us that this guy is alot weaker than he was in the game. I'm guessing that if you just throw the Gale Boomerang at him, he'll fall to the ground and be open for an attack."

"Worth a try."

Sam threw the boomerang and hit the monster's long neck. It fell to the ground, open to attacks.

"I was right? Something weird is going on..."

"What do you mean?"

"Nevermind, just attack it!"

Sam drew out his sword and in one attack, the battle was over. The creature melted away to simple water and the water in the pool turned blue.

Something metal fell to the ground, it seemed to be piece of a broken helmet.

"Hmm...Midna, you gonna get this?" Lara asked.

Midna appeared again and picked up the metal.

"It's a Fused Shadow." the imp said. "I'll hold onto it. Two more to go, lets get going!"

"So, you're not going to give us some ideas of where to go next?"

"From what you've talked about, and how well you know everything so far, I think you can find out where to go next."

Midna vanished, taking the Fused Shadow with her.


	9. Onward to Kakariko Village

"Gosh, the battle didn't even go like it did in the game..." Lara sighed. 

"You think something happened since we're here?" Sam asked.

"Possible...but I'm not sure. Do you think that water is safe for swimming?"

"You want to go swimming?"

"You don't expect me to run around for the rest of this adventure covered in mud, do you?"

"No...Just be careful."

"Careful about what?"

"Not drowning."

"Don't worry, I won't drown."

Lara removed her belt, boots and gauntlet, set them on the ground and walked to the edge of the water. She jumped into the water, making a splash.

She came back up again, most of the mud had come off, but there was still alot in her hair. Sam sat down on the ground and began to think. There were still a few things bothering him.

"You've got something on your mind again," Lara said.

"In a way," Sam replied. "Are you going to explain yet?"

"You mean about Midna?"

"Mhmm."

"Well, there is a long road ahead of us before we find the next dungeon. So, I'll tell you on the way, okay?"

"I'd rather you told me now while I had you in one place, but I'll wait."

"I got all the mud out, right?"

"Still got some in your hair."

"Oh."

* * *

Lara sank under the water again and came back up a moment later.

"Now?" she asked.

"It's gone now," Sam replied.

Lara swam up to the edge of the pool and pulled herself up onto the grass. She squeezed out most of the water in her hair.

"Alright, we can go now," she said. She stood up and grabbed her boots, belt and gauntlet up from the ground.

Sam stood up as well and followed Lara to the center of the dry land. Lara took a small stone and a match from her bag and lit the match by striking it against the rock.

She dropped the match on the ground. Soon as the match was completely burned and black, an upward burst of black flames irrupted from the ground infront of them.

The flames took shape, like a full length mirror but it didn't reflect anything. The fire wasn't hot either, instead it was as cold as ice.

"This'll take us out to the Faron Spring," Lara explained. "From there, we travel northwest to Kakariko Village."

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"A day's walk at least. That is if we keep at a slow pace."

"And if we speed up a bit?"

"Still might take a day of walking, but then again we have to go into the Twilight."

"So, I'm gonna be a wolf again?"

"Yup."

"Cool."

"Alright, come on. Into the portal, then we'll be on our way."

* * *

It was noon by the time they exited the forest. They entered into a wide field. There was a pond in the middle, with a brigde going over it.

A dirt path led from the forest's edge and split into three paths, north, northwest and northeast. Thick grass covered most of the field, making it look like a green ocean.

Most of the sky was clear, but alot of it was hidden behind a black wall.

"That's the Twilight," Lara said.

"How much of Hyrule has it taken over?" Sam asked.

"It had control of five different areas for a time. Faron Province, Eldin Province, Lanayru Province, The Gerudo Desert and Snowpeak. You saved the Faron Province, so now it only has control of four areas."

"Which are we heading to?"

"Eldin Province."

"Okay...Are you going to explain now?"

"Uhh, well..."

"Lara, you've been holding out on me for long enough." Sam turned around and looked at Lara straight in the eye. "I want to know what's going on."

"...I'd better start at the beginning."

"If you don't mind."

"No, it's not that I mind telling you. It's what I can tell you that's the problem."

"What'd you mean?"

"I don't remember everything. There was something in the food and drink that would make me have black outs."

"Well, tell me what you can and we'll try to fill in the blanks."


	10. Trapped

"Who is she?" 

"Don't ask me, I'm just doing my job."

There was the sound of a closing door, footsteps on stone, a crackling fire, and strong winds. Lara couldn't make out one from the other, everything sounded like an echo.

She opened her eyes to find an older girl looked down at her. The girl had a cloak on and a hood over her head, so her face was hidden in shadow.

"Ahh, you're awake," the girl sighed. "I wasn't sure if you'd come around or not."

Lara began to ask something, but found her voice was gone.

"Don't worry, your voice will come back in a few minutes. And don't try to get up, you've been hit fairly hard on the head."

'Feels more like I've been hit by a truck,' Lara thought. 'I can't move my legs...Gosh, maybe I _did_ get hit by a truck.'

"Would you like something to drink?"

Lara nodded and the girl walked over to the small table near a fireplace. Lara took a good look around the room.

A fireplace, big oak doors, a large window and she herself was lying on a bed. It all looked familiar to her, though she couldn't remember where she'd seen this place before.

"Here you go."

Lara sat up and took a small wooden cup from the girl. She wasn't sure if it was water or wine, but she didn't care. She drank it down in one gulp, then handed the cup back.

"Where am I?" Lara managed to ask.

"Hyrule Castle." the girl replied.

"Hyrule Castle?! Then you must be Princess Zelda."

"Indeed I am. But, I yet to know your name, or where you've come from. Must be far away judging from your clothing."

Lara looked at her clothes. She was wearing a midnight blue tunic, brown leggings, a leather belt and leather boots.

"I'm Lara."

"And where are you from?" Zelda asked.

"I'm a farm girl," Lara lied. "From Ordon."

"Now what should Zant want with a farm girl?"

"Zant?"

"King of the Twilight Realm."

"What can you tell me about him?"

"Well--Oh, the guard is coming!"

Zelda turned to face the door as it opened. Three Twilight Messangers entered the room. One of them carried a plate with food, while another carried a jug full of some liquid.

"Princess Zelda," the first hissed. "King Zant wishes to speak with you."

"Yes, of course." Zelda replied.

"We've been sent to escort you. Please."

Zelda followed the first Twilight Messanger out of the room. The other two set the plate and the jug on the table.

"This is for you," one of them said to Lara. "Eat up, you'll be needing your strength."

They left, closing the door behind them. Lara pulled herself to the edge of the bed and tried to stand up. Her legs felt stiff and her knees buckled a bit, but she was able to walk.

She walked to the table and looked at what had been brought for her. In the jug was grape wine. On the plate was a few slices bread and a small block of cheese.

'And they call this a meal?' Lara thought to herself. "Oh well, I could do with something to eat anyway."

She picked up the cheese and the bread and sat down on the bed again. She quickly ate the bread and was about to eat the cheese when she noticed an odd smell.

'Weird smell for cheese...' she thought. 'It's probably aged cheese, that's why it smells weird.'

Lara stuffed the cheese into her mouth and practically sallowed it whole. A few minutes passed, Zelda had yet to return. Lara stood up and at once her knees buckled under her.

She hit the floor, knocking the breathe out of her. Her legs felt numb and the numbness was quickly taking over her whole body.

'Oh snap! That smell must've been from some sort of paralyzing herb mixed in...with...'

She couldn't think straight, she felt light-headed and only half conscious. Her vision blurred, then there was nothing but darkness.

* * *

Hours passed before Lara woke up again. She felt considerably weaker, both physically and mentally. She opened her eyes to find she was on the bed again.

She pushed herself up and found Zelda was standing next to the window.

"Princess," Lara coughed. "What happened?"

"You're awake," Zelda sighed. "I'm not sure what happened. Zant sent for me and when I returned you were gone. The guards brought you back just moments ago."

"There was something in the food. Made me black out."

"I think you might find the answer from your left arm."

Lara was puzzled at first, but then she looked down at her arm. It was tightly wrapped in white cloth, almost like she'd been hurt. She removed the cloth and found her arm was greatly discolored, almost black.

She turned her arm over so her hand was palm up. There was a long horizontal cut that ran across her wrist, looked like it'd been sewed up with a leather cord.

"I thought as much," Zelda sighed. "You've been marked as Zant's property."

"I don't care what Zant says," Lara growled. "I'm not his, or anyone else's _property._"

"Unless you can escape, you won't have a chance. Most likely from that cut along your wrist, somesort of potion was put in. And if they continue to get that into you, you'll most likely be under Zant's control within weeks."

"That doesn't give me much time for finding a way to escape."

"Go search now, the guard won't be back for an hour or so. And take these."

* * *

Zelda placed a brown cloak and a wooden staff on the bed. Lara stood up and wrapped the cloak around herself. She slipped the hood over her head and picked up the staff.

Lara left the room and climbed down the stairs. She came to a long hallway that led to the Throne Room and the Armory.

She ran to the end of the hall and slipped into the Armory. Inside were different suits of armor, mostly steel and iron, but there were some chain mail shirts.

She took the thinest shirt of chain mail. She also found two brown hilted knives with leather sheathes and a pair of leather guantlets, she took it all with her.

Lara walked out of the Armory and was almost to staircase when she heard a door open farther down the corridor. She bolted up the stairs and entered the small bedroom.

"Lara?" Zelda asked. "What're you-?"

"Nevermind that now, where can I hide this stuff?"

"Under the bed, quickly!"

Lara stuffed the new equipment under the bed, along with the staff and cloak. She sat on top of the bed and laid down, pretending to have just woken up.

The door opened and a Twilight Messanger entered the room.

"Are you up yet?" it asked.

"Maybe. If you hadn't put something into my food," Lara growled.

"Well, you'll find your food is fine. So, eat it."

The Twilight Messanger set a plate on the table along with a small glass of grape wine. The creature left, closing the door behind it.

Lara stood up and walked over to the table. She picked up the plate of food and the glass of wine and poured both into the fireplace.

"I'm not going to eat this stuff," she growled. "If I have to starve, then I'll starve. I'm not letting Zant take control of me."

* * *

Day after day Lara searched the castle for any possible way out. Each time she came close to escaping, she'd get caught and escorted to the dungeon.

Though everytime they reached the dungeon, Lara would black out then wake up in the small chamber with Princess Zelda.

It was six days since Lara had found herself in Hyrule Castle. She was considerably weaker than she had been before, but there was nothing she could about it.

Lara stood at the window, looking down towards the courtyard of the castle. Something caught her eye. Two Twilight Messangers were dragging something into the castle dungeon.

She could hardly make out the shape, but she knew what the Twilight Messangers had found, a wolf.

'That must be Link,' she thought to herself.

"Princess Zelda," a strange voice said. "Might I be of some assistance?"

Lara turned to see an imp floating near the door. Lara knew this imp, her name was Midna.

"Oh, you're not Princess Zelda," Midna sighed. "Where is she?"

"Zant sent for her an hour ago," Lara replied. "Maybe I can help you?"

"Well...You don't look like you're from around here. Maybe you can do something for me."

"Name it."

"No...First you have to help me get that wolf out of the dungeon."

"I was going to do that anyway."

"You seem to be quite weak. I can give you the strength to fight, but you'll have to use your own after that. Do you have anything to fight with?"

Lara walked over to the bed and pulled out the equipment she'd placed there days ago. She latched the knives onto her belt, slipped a guantlet onto her left arm and put the other into the bag on her belt.

She wrapped the cloak around herself, pulled the hood over her head and held the staff in her right hand.

"This is fine, right?" she asked.

"Yeah," Midna replied. "Come on, we can get out the long way."

It took them an hour to reach the dungeon. Midna took form as Lara's shadow to avoid suspicion. Lara appoarched the hallway to the back prison cells, where the wolf was being kept.

A guard stood at the hallway, blocking the path forward.

"Please guard," Lara said. "Please let me see the wolf."

"Sorry Princess," the guard replied. "No one allowed to see 'im, 'specially you."

"But why? I AM your leader, aren't I?"

"No, my leader is the Twilight King, not the Twilight Princess."

"Very well...and just to make it clear, I am not the Princess of Twilight."

"Shall I escort you to your room?"

"If you feel the need, but I can get there myself."

"Hey!" A voice yelled from down hallway. "Let me out!"

"Seems the wolf is awake," the guard said. He turned to looked down the hall.

"Please, I'm already here, won't you let me see him?" Lara pulled out one of her knives and raised it up, ready to strike.

"Not withou-Ahh!"

Lara stabbed the guard's back with the knife. She pulled out the knife and the guard's body crumbled to dust. She put the knife away and ran up the hall to the back room.


	11. Kakariko Gorge

"So, that's when you found me," Sam sighed. "But, what would Zant want from you?"

"I'm not sure," Lara sighed. "Not much of this makes sense, except that we have to defeat Zant to get home."

They had been walking all the time Lara was telling the story. It was dusk, the sky was deep violet with swirls of orange and pink.

They reached the black wall just as the last bit of sunlight vanished into the horizon. They stopped a few yards from the wall. Midna appeared infront of them.

"You're sure you want to go in?" Midna asked. "There's no telling what's past here."

"I'm ready," Sam said. "Lara?"

"Lets get in there," Lara sighed. "The sooner we're in, the sooner we get to Zant."

Midna turned and faded through the wall. Moments later a glowing arm shot out of the wall, grabbed both Sam and Lara, and pulled them into the Twilight.

The hand let them go and they landed on the ground. Almost at once, Sam's body changed and he was in his wolf form.

"How come you don't change in the Twilight?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Lara replied.

"Well, lets keep going. Think you can keep up?"

"Yeah, but not for long."

They ran up the path, jumping over any rocks that were along the path. They had gone about half way through the canyon when Lara had to stop.

"Come on, it's not much farther," Sam sighed.

"It is for me," Lara coughed. "My allergies get me the most if I'm running for a long time."

"And when can you run again?"

"A few minutes. Just have to catch my breath. There should be a toy sword around here somewhere, it's important for finding the missing kids from Ordon Village."

"Alright I'll look around...Yeah, there it is!"

The toy sword was lying on the other side of the path. Sam walked over to it and bent down to pick it up.

"Don't touch it," Lara said. "Just sniff it, learn the scent that's on it."

"In other words, 'be the wolf'?" Sam asked.

"Yeah."

"Um..." Sam took a few sniffs, then looked at Lara. "There are four different scents that meld into one."

"Okay, you remember how you saw the Twilight Parasite before?"

"Yeah."

"Do it again, but follow the trial. I'll be right behind you."

* * *

Sam closed his eyes and opened them again. Everything was black except for a ring of light around him. A trial of green fog led up the path and out of the canyon.

"It's heading up the path," he said.

"Alright, follow it."

Sam ran along side the fog, following it up the path. He was out of the canyon and in a field now, but he wasn't sure how much farther the trial would go.

There was a crash. Sam stopped in his tracks and brought his vision to normal again. He and Lara were trapped inside a barrier. Two Twilight Messangers stood infront of them, another was behind them.

Lara knelt down and tapped the ground with her left hand. The dark ring appeared, each of the Twilight Messangers were inside it.

Sam leaped at one of the Twilight Messangers and struck it down. He bolted at the other two and slashed them both. All three fell to the ground and exploded. The barrier vanished.

"You knew that was gonna happen, didn't you?" Sam asked.

"I did," Lara replied. "I was catching up to you, to warn you, but I wasn't fast enough to tell you."

"Hmm..."

Sam turned towards the gorge that split the field in half. It was too deep to see the bottom and too wide to jump across. Two posts stood at one side of the gorge.

"There was a bridge here," Lara said. "It was taken away, to prevent anyone from going past."

"Where is the bridge now?" Sam asked.

"Should be in Faron Woods."

"Please don't tell me we have to walk all the way back."

"Nope, we're gonna warp there."

"Warp?"

"You know those clouds that the Twilight Messangers left behind when you killed them?"

"Yeah."

"Those are all portals. They all link together in a web, making it easy to travel. But we can only warp if you're in the wolf form."

"That's annoying."

"But it saves us time."

* * *

Lara pulled a black marble out of her bag and dropped it onto the ground. A ring appeared around the marble and spread out to where both Lara and Sam were inside the ring.

The ground under their feet vanished and they fell down a short way. Sam landed on his paws and looked around. They were in Faron Woods and a short walk away from the Forest Temple.

"There it is," Lara sighed.

Sam turned to where Lara was looking. Leaning against the side of the cliff was the missing bridge.

"But how are we going to move it?" Sam asked.

"Midna."

Midna appeared and floated up to the bridge. She snapped her finger and the bridge vanished in a small explosion. Midna teleported the other two back to the gorge, where the bridge was in place.

"Come on," Lara said. "Kakariko is just beyond the canyon."

They walked across the bridge and up the hill towards the canyon. A locked gate stood in their way. Along the top of the gate were long spikes. Sam noticed a hole leading under the gate.

"Think we could go under the gate?" he asked.

"You could, I can't."

"So, you're planning to climb over it?"

"Couldn't climb over it if I tried. I'll have to find someother way around."

"You could break the lock on the gate."

"No, I can't."

"You did it before though. When you got me out of the dungeon."

"That was pure luck. I have no idea how i even did it."

Lara looked at the left side of the gate. She walked over to the wooden wall and kicked it. A few boards shattered to pieces, making just enough room for her to get through.

"I knew there was more than one way around the gate," she laughed. "Almost there."


	12. Kakariko Village

They walked down the path through the canyon. A warm breeze was coming from the north, most likely from Death Mountain. They came out into a clearing. 

A village was built along side the cliffs, some buildings had stairs leading up to the cliffs themselves. Most of the buildings were made from wood and metal, but there was one house made of stone.

The Eldin Healing Spring stood to the left of the path. A ball of dull light floated above the pool.

"Be careful," Lara said. "There are Twilight Messangers coming."

"Again?" Sam sighed. "We just fought some a few minutes ago!"

"Twilight Messangers are very determined creatures. They don't give up easily."

Five black pillars rose out of the ground. A glowing red barrier appeared, twisting around each of the pillars and trapping Sam and Lara inside.

A black and red cloud appeared high above them. Three Twilight Messangers fell out of it and surrounded them.

"Don't bother with the dark ring yet," Sam growled. "Lets see how long it takes to kill one without the ring."

"Takes longer than you're thinking, but okay."

Sam tackled the closest of the three, while Lara stabbed another with one of her daggers. Sam killed the first in a few hits. He whirled around to face the third.

The third Twilight Messanger slashed at Sam and threw him into the barrier. Sam hit the wall, knocking the wind out of him.

Lara ran at the third Twilight Messanger and stabbed a dagger into the back of it's neck. She threw the other knife at the second creature and the blade stuck into the Twilight Messanger's mouth.

Both died at once and exploded. The barrier and black pillars vanished. The cloud above turned black and green.

* * *

Something silver fell out of the cloud. Lara caught it in her free hand and held it up. It was a square shaped amethyst, surrounded in a thin sheet of pure silver. It hung from a silver chain and glowed white in the light of the black moon.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"It's my necklace," Lara replied. "My great grandfather gave it to me. I thought I'd lost it when I was kidnapped."

"It's nice."

"Yeah."

Lara hooked the chain around her neck. She picked up her other dagger and put both back into their sheathes.

"We need to speak to Eldin," she said. She walked to the edge of the pool, Sam followed close behind her. "Light Guardian, Eldin, we've come from the forests of Ordon and Faron. How may we help in repairing your land?"

"The insects of Twilight have stolen the light," a female voice replied. "Return the light to me and the land shall be repaired."

A Vessel of Light appeared at Sam's feet. He looked up at Lara.

"I can't help," Lara sighed. "If I could see what you can see, I would help, but I can't."

"I know," Sam replied. "Stay here, don't get into trouble. Anything I should know before I go?"

"There are three insects inside a bomb store house. Watch out for those three, they'll set the bombs on fire."

"Anyway to avoid it?"

"Not really. Get out as soon as the insects are set on fire. You'll be trapped inside if you don't get out fast."

"Alright." Sam picked up the Vessel of Light in his jaws and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Lara knelt down and held Sam in a hug for a moment. She let him go and stood up again. "Let me know once you've gotten out of the store house, okay?"

Sam nodded, then ran off into the village. It took about an hour to find thirteen of the sixteen Twilight Parasite.

* * *

Sam had climbed part way up Death Mountain and found a strange stone, which seemed to be humming a tune. Sam repeated the notes and the white furred, red-eyed wolf appeared.

The white wolf looked at Sam for a moment, then ran down the mountain path. Sam followed the wolf all the way to the village. The white wolf was gone leaving no trace of where it'd gone.

Sam climbed up the cliffside to a wide ledge higher up. A tall building sat far from the cliff. Something ran past Sam and slipped into a hole in the wall of the building.

Sam crawled through the hole and entered the building. It was the bomb store house Lara had warned him about before. He looked around, spotting the three white, cat-like creatures hiding under a pile of wood in the fireplace.

A lit torch stood in a pot near the door. Sam set the Vessel of Light on the ground and picked up the torch. He threw it into the fireplace and picked up the golden strand of light, just as the three Twilight Parasite took flight and set the whole building on fire.

* * *

"He's been gone a while," Lara said. "Maybe I should try to find him, make sure he's okay."

"He can take care of himself," Midna protested. "If he'd wanted your help he--oh, no!"

Lara turned to see what Midna was looking at. High above on a rocky cliff, a tall building was engulfed in flames. Lara knew it was the bomb store house.

She ran to the bottom of the cliff. There was an explosion, the bombs had gone off. She stared up towards the edge of the cliff. Sam didn't appear at the edge.

"M-maybe he's gathering the light," Midna suggested. "He could be getting it all together now, so he doesn't have to go back for it."

Lara didn't reply, she just kept staring up at the cliff, expecting Sam to appear at any moment. She stood in silence for a few moments.

"Sam!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Sam, wake up! Don't you dare die on me!"


	13. From Kakariko to Ordon

"I'm okay!"

Sam looked over the ledge of the cliff. He didn't look hurt, but he was smiling as if he'd just had the time of his life.

"Don't scare me like that!" Lara exclaimed.

"Sorry. I got the light now."

"Then get down here so we can get on with the adventure."

Sam picked up the Vessel of Light and quickly made his way down the side of the cliff. The two went to the edge of the pool. Sam walked farther into the water and placed the Vessel of Light in the spring.

There was a flash of light which blinded Sam for a moment. Once the light had died down, he opened his eyes and found Kakariko Village had been restored in light.

The sky above was pale with the first light of dawn. He looked over himself, he was human again. A figure appeared in the water. It was a bird with feathers made of light.

"Thank you," the bird said. "I am Eldin. I suppose you've already met with Ordon and Faron?"

"Yes," Sam replied. "They told us to come to the northwest, to meet with you."

"There's been trouble on Death Mountain. It has been spitting up rocks every few hours. I'd like you to check out the problem, will you do so?"

"Of course."

"Then I leave you with this warning. Darkness comes from the east, seeking those from Ordon. Keep a look out for this darkness."

* * *

Eldin faded away, letting natural sunlight flood over the canyon. Sam turned and walked out of the water. As he stepped out, the door to the stone house opened.

Two brunette boys and brunette girl and a blonde boy stood in the door way.

"Sam!" all four exclaimed. They ran up to him. "You came to save us!"

Sam looked at Lara who was in as much shock as he was. He held up both hands and began to sign to her. They both knew sign language, so that was an advantage in communication between them.

'_How do they know me?_' he signed.

'_They're the missing kids from Ordon,_' Lara signed back. '_You're a hero to these kids._'

'_That doesn't help much._'

'_Sorry, but it's the truth._'

'_Which is which?_'

'_The girl is Beth. The blonde boy is Colin. The older brunette boy is Talo, the other is Malo._'

'_Right._'

"Sam, what're you doing?" Beth asked. "And who's this girl? Is she your secret girlfriend?"

"Wha-?!" Sam spattered. "Uhh...In a way."

Lara could hardly hold back a laugh.

'_It's not funny!_' Sam signed.

'_Yes, it is._' Lara replied. '_In the game, Link has a girlfriend named Ilia._'

'_Oh, gosh! Is this going to get more confusing as we go farther in the game?_'

'_Very much so._'

'_Great..._'

"So, who is she?" Talo asked. "I've never seen her before."

"This is Lara. I met her in the forest," Sam said.

"What do you keep doing with your hands?" Beth asked. "Is it a secret code? Can you teach us?"

"It's a code between me and Lara. She has trouble talking sometimes-"

'_What're you doing?_' Lara signed. '_I can talk just fine!_'

'_If you want to get out of this without having to answer alot of questions, don't say anything._' Sam signed back.

"So, you're Sam?" a voice asked.

Sam looked up. Standing infront of him were two men and a young girl.

The man to the left was alot taller than Sam was. He had black hair, dark eyes and dark skin. He wore deerskin robes and boots.

The second man was shorter, though still taller than Sam. He had red-brown hair, pale skin and wore a metal blast mask over his face. He wore a white shirt, black pants and boots.

The girl was a little shorter than Lara, but not by much. She had black hair, dark eyes and tanned skin. She wore deerskin robes and boots.

"Yes, I'm Sam," Sam replied. "And this is Lara."

"The children have been talking about you," the black haired man said. "I am Renado, the shaman of this village. This is my daughter, Luda. And the bomb maker, Barnes."

"Renado found us," Colin said. "He saved us from those creatures. We owe him for that."

"Sam, you know of the Goron Tribe, correct?" Renado asked.

"Yes," Sam replied. "Though I've never met a Goron."

"Lately, the Gorons have been keeping anyone from climbing up Death Mountain. They've become angry beasts. I fear for these Ordon children, there's no telling what the Gorons will do. If you can find a horse and cart, could you take them back home?"

"No!" Talo exclaimed. "We're staying here!"

"Sam has to help the Gorons!" Colin said. "You can help them, right?"

"Well..." Sam sighed.

'_Do it,_' Lara signed. '_Only way to get on with it._'

"Of course. I'll do whatever I can."

"Then we'll leave you to it." Renado said.

* * *

Sam walked towards the mountain path, Lara followed after him. They came to the foot of the mountain path. Sam began to climb up the thick netting along the cliff.

"You coming?" he asked, turning to look at Lara.

"Nah, I'll stay down here. You might find it helpful to have me down here."

Sam climbed up the rest of the way and walked a little way up the path. A Goron came rolling down the hill, heading right towards Sam.

He didn't have time to jump out of the way. The Goron hit him and threw him off the cliff. He hit the ground, somewhat stunned from the force of hitting the ground.

"You okay?" Lara asked, looking down at him.

"Yeah," Sam coughed. He stood up and nearly tripped over his weakened legs. "What're those Gorons on? Steroids?!"

"Some would think so, but it's never that easy to explain."

"Then what's making them so strong?"

"Over the generations, after the events of The Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, the Gorons realized they needed to become stronger."

"So, they started making home-made steroids?"

"No, they started mining the rocks closest to the core of Death Mountain. They found the richest rocks, that gave them much more strength than they thought they could ever have."

"But, technically they found steroids."

"Technically speaking, yes."

"How do we get past the Gorons?"

"We got to go back to Ordon and talk to Mayor Bo. And we have to WALK this time."

"What about that warning from Eldin?"

"Hmm? What warning?"

"Didn't you...Didn't you hear it?"

"No..."

"Nevermind about it now, we have to get to Ordon."

* * *

They walked down the hill and came back into the village. They walked down the path. Sam stopped. He thought he'd heard something behind them.

"What is it?" Lara asked. She stopped as well and looked behind them. "Oh, snap. I knew I had forgotten something."

Sam turned around. A red horse came running at them. It had a white mane and tail. On it's back was a leather saddle fit for one person.

It didn't stop, just kept running towards them. Sam rolled out of the way, as did Lara. The horse sped past them and stopped. It bucked up on it's hind legs.

"Sam, you gotta get up on her back!" Lara exclaimed.

"And risk getting hit in the head?!" Sam asked.

"Just do it, or we'll be stuck here for another day!"

Sam leaped up onto the horse's back and held on to it's white mane. After realizing who was ontop of her back, the horse stood still and bent her neck around to look at Sam.

"Good girl," Sam sighed. He patted the horse's neck. "Lara, is this Epona?"

"Yup."

"So, she's technically my horse?"

"Yup."

"She'll cut walking time in half! Come on, we'll get to Ordon before noon."

"Uhh..."

Sam turned to look at Lara. She was standing a good distance away from him and Epona.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't go to Ordon, someone might recognize me," she replied.

"From when we went in and took the sword and shield, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"It was dark, how could anyone have seen you?"

"I don't want to risk it."

"Are you sure?"

"Go on. I'll be fine."

"I hate leaving you here...Don't get into any trouble, okay? Stay inside."

"I won't go outside, until there's reason to go outside."

"I'll be back in a little while."

"Oh, did you find a stone on Death Mountain?"

"Yeah."

"Did you repeat the song it was humming?"

"Yeah and the white wolf appeared."

"Then, Hero's Shade, is waiting for you at the Ordon Spring. Make sure you drop by there before you come back."

"Alright. See ya."

"See you later."


	14. Unexpected Kidnapping, Unexpected Rescue

Sam had arrived at Ordon Village a short time before noon. After having a lesson of strength from Mayor Bo, the older man gave Sam two pairs of heavy, metal boots.

"Those are called Iron Boots," Bo explained. "Makes it almost impossible for anything, even a Goron to move ya."

"Why're you giving me two pairs?" Sam asked.

"Incase you lose a pair."

"Oh, okay. Thanks. I'd better get going, I said I'd be back before sunset."

"Right, keep an eye out for those kids, ya hear?"

"Will do. See ya."

Sam placed both pairs of boots into his bag. He figured Lara could find use of the extra pair. He climbed onto Epona's back and got the horse moving out of the village.

He stopped at the enterance to the Ordon Spring, climbed off again and walked into the clearing. To the right of the pool was the white wolf.

Sam drew out his sword and shield and walked towards the wolf. Instead of the wolf attacking him, it howled and Sam found himself in the foggy field.

Standing infront of him was Hero's Shade. The skeleton warrior looked the same as before.

"We meet again," the skeleton said.

"Indeed we do," Sam replied.

"Do you wish to learn the next hidden skill?"

"Yes, if you don't mind teaching me."

"First, you must prove you've mastered the last skill I taught you, Ending Blow."

"Alright."

Sam rushed forward, knocked the skeleton to the ground and brought the blade of his sword into the warrior's chest. He stepped back and let Hero's Shade stand up.

"Perfect!" the skeleton exclaimed. "Now, hidden skill two: Shield Attack. Use your shield to stun me, then attack with your sword."

* * *

Lara sat in the doorway of Renado's house. She didn't want to lose sight of any of the children. But she'd promised Sam she wouldn't go outside, so the closest she could go was the doorway.

Colin and Malo stood near the door, while Beth and Talo stood on the road. The sun was just beyond the edge of the canyon now, so it was getting darker.

Lara placed a hand on the ground and jumped when she felt it rumble. She knelt down and held an ear to the ground.

_Th-dump, th-dump_

Lara knew that sound. It was the sound of running hooves on dirt. She stood up and looked towards the canyon path. The sound was getting louder, Beth and Talo heard it too.

The two turned just as three warthogs the size of horses rounded the corner. Each of the creatures had thick brown fur, sharp teeth, beady black eyes and blood stained hooves.

On each of the warthogs were green skinned Bublins. Sitting on the front warthog was the largest of the Bulblin, King Bulblin.

Talo turned and ran into Renado's house. Beth was frozen with fear, she couldn't move. Colin ran out to Beth and pushed her out of the way, putting himself in danger.

"Colin!" Lara yelled. She ran out to him, taking out her daggers as she went.

* * *

"Almost sunset," Sam sighed, "I'll make it just in time."

He passed through the canyon and came to Kakariko Gorge. As he crossed over the bridge, he noticed the gate into Kakariko had been smashed to bits, opening the path into the village.

"Oh, no...Epona faster!"

Epona bolted up the hill, past the broken gate and through the canyon. They rounded the corner and found three warthogs standing on the other end of the long road. Epona stopped in her tracks.

There were five Bulblins too, one on the leading warthog, two on the smaller warthogs. The largest Bulblin laughed a cold, emotionless laugh. He held up both of his hands.

He was holding Colin's limp body in his left hand. In his right he had a hold on Lara's left arm. Lara was trying to free herself, but was getting nowhere.

"Hey!" Sam yelled, drawing out his sword. "Let them go!"

The Bulblin laughed again and squeezed tighter around Lara's arm. She winced in pain and held her right hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

Sam tapped Epona and the horse bolted forward. The warthogs ran to the other exit of the village and smashed through the second gate.

Sam kept right on after them. He entered another field. The sky had begun to grow dark with rain clouds.

The large Bulblin sat on his beast just a little farther away. Lara and Colin were nowhere in sight, but Sam knew they were close.

Five other warthogs, each carrying two Bulblins, appeared behind Sam, blocking the path back into the village.

"Epona, stay with the leader," Sam whispered into Epona's ear. "He'll lead us to the others."

Epona ran toward the leading Bulblin. Sam drew out his sword and slashed at the green skinned demon. He hit, but didn't do much damage.

The Bulblin's warthog headed towards a stone bridge that went over a large canyon. A large pile of sticks stood infront of the gate onto the bridge.

The warthog jumped over it easily. Epona leaped and landed on the other side. Just as Sam and Epona were on the other side of the pile, the wood burst into flame.

On the other end of the bridge, the warthog was running towards Sam and Epona. Epona ran towards the warthog, Sam had his sword ready. The Bulblin tried to strike Sam, but he ducked and stabbed the demon with his sword.

It began to rain, making the bridge slippery to run on. The Bulbin and warthog fell off the bridge, into the canyon below. Sam looked around, hoping to find Lara or Colin.

* * *

He saw them, they were on the side of the bridge against one of the gates. Epona stopped to let Sam off. He jumped off and ran to where the two were.

Colin was still unconscious. Lara was awake, but only just.

"Lara, you okay?" Sam asked, kneeling down infront of his friend. "You're not badly hurt are you?"

"I'm fine, Colin's in worse shape than I am," Lara coughed. "Get him back to Kakariko."

"I'm not leaving you here. Come on, your riding on Epona. I'll carry Colin if I have to, but I'm not leaving you alone...Lara?"

Lara was asleep. Sam sighed, he was going to have some trouble getting both Colin and Lara back to Kakariko.

"Hey, Midna," Sam began. "Do you think you can get Lara back to Kakariko?"

"No way," Midna replied. She jumped out of Lara's shadow. "She's blocked out everything from the real world, there's no way I can get into her head."

"She's blocked out everything?"

"Basicly she's so deep in her sleep, nothing can reach her subconscious mind."

"How much sleep has she had since she got here?"

"From what I've seen in the few memories she allowed me to see, she's had maybe fours hours of sleep since she was kidnapped."

"I'm surprised she's been able to talk right for having that much lack of sleep. I'll try not to wake her up."

"You couldn't wake her up if you tried. If she can't hear anything with her subconscious mind, she can't hear anything outside her head either."

Sam lifted Lara up onto Epona's back. He picked up Colin and told Epona to go slow across the field. Midna couldn't become Lara's shadow, so she became Sam's.

* * *

It was nearly dawn when they got to the village. Renado took Lara and Colin into the small inn of the village. He came back a few moments later.

"Colin will be fine after some sleep," he said.

"What about Lara?" Sam asked.

"She's sick, most likely been poisoned."

"Is there anything you can do?"

"I can make an antidote. Though I have no idea if it'll be fast enough to stop the poison. Do you know where her family is? They should be informed."

"I don't know where her family is."

"Any friends?"

"Only me."

"I see. I'll get started on the antidote."

"What can I do?"

"You can get up to Death Mountain and help the Gorons however you can."

"Can I leave something for Lara?"

"Yes, but hurry. The Gorons will be in full force by mid morning."

Sam walked into the inn and up the stairs. There was one room, Colin was sleeping in a bed to the left side of the room. Luda and Beth sat beside him.

To the right of the room, Lara was lying on the other bed. Sam walked to Lara and set the smaller pair of Iron Boots next to the bed. Sam took notice that Lara's body was tense.

He placed a hand on her forehead, as she'd done to him before. She was burning up, the poison was still spreading throughout her body.

He removed his shield off his back and placed it against the wall. He wouldn't have much use for it. He left the room and headed down stairs.

* * *

He closed the door to the inn and walked down to where Talo and Malo stood along the road.

"Guys," he began. "I'm gonna be gone for a while. I need you two to watch out for trouble, okay?"

"Sure thing, Sam!" Talo laughed.

"Can you guys check on Lara every few hours too? I'm worried about her but I can't take her with me."

"Don't worry, we'll look after her for ya, 'til ya get back."

"Thanks, I owe you one."

"You won't have to owe us, if you buy something from me," Malo said.

"Like what?"

"Like this."

Malo held up a large metal shield. Sam recognized it as a Hylian Shield.

"How much?" he asked.

"Two hundred Rupees."

"Alot for a shield...But I'll need it."

He pulled out the wallet Lara had given him and pulled out four purple Rupees. He handed them to Malo and strapped the shield onto his back.

"I'm off," Sam said. "If Lara wakes up, tell her where I've gone."

"We will," Talo said. "Good luck!"


	15. Up Death Mountain

Sam looked up the cliff to the mountain. The netting was still in place, but he didn't know if it could support him and weight of the Iron Boots. 

He decided to put the boots on once he reached the top of the cliff. He climbed up the netting but didn't get up on the ledge right away. He looked around to make sure there wasn't a Goron waiting for him.

Seeing no rock-like creatures, Sam pulled himself up and pulled the Iron Boots from his bag. He slipped them on and latched them tightly so they wouldn't come.

Sam tried to walk forward but ending up falling on his face.

"Ow...This is alot harder than I thought it'd be," he growled. He pushed himself up. "Okay, one step at a time."

Took him a few more trys but he got the hang of walking with the heavy boots. He went a few feet and stopped when a Goron came rolling down the hill.

Sam held his hands infront of him and once the Goron was in reach, he grabbed the rock-like creature and flung him farther down the hill.

"This isn't so bad."

'Speak for yourself!' a voice in the back of his head said. 'All you have to do is walk and throw, I gotta keep my hold on that poison in Lara!'

'What're you talking about, Midna?' Sam asked.

'I'm trying to keep the poison from spreading farther in Lara's body. It gets harder to do that when we get farther away from her.'

'Then, why didn't you stay there with her?'

'She wouldn't allow me into her mind, so I couldn't have been her shadow. If she'd let me in, I'd be there right now holding the poison back.'

'What would happen if you lost your hold on the poison?'

'Either Lara will be completely under Zant's control, or she'll die.'

'Those aren't good outcomes.'

'Pay attention!'

Sam snapped back to reality and hardly had enough time to throw another Goron down the hill. He continued up the mountain, throwing off any Goron that tried to stop him.

* * *

"There's a human coming!" one of the younger Gorons exclaimed. "He's beaten almost every Goron that's challanged him!"

"Lets give him a warm welcome then!" the Goron's older brother laughed. "This human may be able to handle one of us at a time, but not four at a time!"

Four of the strongest Gorons of the Goron Tribe faced the door to outside. Sam entered the room, not expecting much of a fight here.

"Do not hurt the human!" a harsh voice called.

From the other side of the room, an elderly Goron walked out of a dark tunnel. He was shorter than most of the Gorons, but he seemed to be of great importance.

"So, you're the human that's beaten most of our Goron?" the elderly Goron asked.

"Yes, I am," Sam replied. "My name is Sam."

"And you came from the village in the canyon, have you not?"

"Correct. I've come to see what the trouble is with Death Mountai-"

"The problem is inside our sacred mines. Outsiders are not allowed to enter the mines, unless..."

"...Unless what?"

"Unless you can defeat me in a test of strength. If you can defeat me, I shall allow you to enter the mines."

"And what if I lose?"

"Then you may go home without being harmed."

"I accept your terms."

Sam walked to the center of the room and stood at one of the white lines. The elder Goron stood on the other line.

"You know how to fight, correct?" the Goron asked.

"If I didn't, do you think I could've gotten this far?" Sam replied.

"True."

"Ready..." one of the Gorons began.

Sam knelt down and placed both hands on the floor. The elder Goron did the same.

"Three...two..." another Goron counted down. "Fight!"

* * *

All the Gorons stared in shock. Sam had just defeated their elder. A human had beaten a Goron in a test of strength!

"You're a strong young man," the elder sighed. "Stronger than even I, Gor Coron. Very well, you may pass through into the mines."

"Can you tell me when the trouble started?" Sam asked.

"It was not long ago. The mountain began to act strangely, so I, the other three elders and Darbus went into the mines. There is a treasure of great power hidden there. When Darbus touched it, he turned into an unspeakable monster!"

"What happened after that?"

"We four elders locked Darbus in the treasure room and split the key into three pieces. Then locked some of the doors leading to that room."

"Do you have the broken key?"

"No, the other three elders each have a piece of it."

"Alright. I'll figure out how to get Darbus back to normal."

The Gorons stepped aside, allowing Sam to pass through the tunnel. He walked down the path until he was out of sight of the Gorons.

He unlatched the Iron Boots, pulled them off and placed them into his bag. As he continued down the winding corridor, Sam noticed the air was growing thick and the temperature increasing.

Sam came out into a large cavern. Small pillars stood up above the boiling lava at the bottom of the room. The walls were brown stone with small chunks of teal rock mixed in.

To the left side of the room were metal platforms leading above the lava. On the other side of the room, Sam could make out the shape of a circular door.


	16. Goron Mines, Part One

As Sam appoarched the edge of the cliff, a burst of lava sent some of the flaming goo onto the cliff, just barely his foot. 

"This is just about the dumbest thing I could ever do," Sam sighed.

He faced the closest rocky pillar and ran towards it. He leaped off the cliff and landed on the pillar. He jumped at the next but wasn't fast enough to land.

Sam gripped the rocky ledge with his hands. He could feel the heat from the lava.

"Quickly!" a small voice above said. "Pull yourself up, the lava is about to burst!"

Sam pulled himself up onto the rock, just before the lava burst and covered the side of the rock where he'd been. He looked over his shoulder to see an odd creature.

It had the body of a chicken, but the head of a human.

* * *

"Hello," the creature said. "Aren't you going to say anything?"

"Thanks for the warning," Sam replied. "I'm Sam, who're you?"

"I'm Ooccoo."

"Nice to meet you."

"What're you doing in a place like this?"

"I'm trying to find something."

"Piece of a black helmet?"

"Yeah, that's it! Have you seen it?"

"It's in the treasure room with that monster."

"Do you know how to get there?"

"Yes, shall I show you?"

"If you don't mind."

Ooccoo led Sam through the caverns. They came to a small room that had water instead of lava. There was no way to get to the other platform that led forward.

There was a large amount of the teal rock carved from the other platform to stand above the water. Sam noticed a switch in the water below the platform.

"I'm gonna see what that switch does," he said.

"Be careful, there could be anything down there," Ooccoo warned.

* * *

Sam dived into the water and swam down to the switch. He pushed down on it, but it wouldn't move. He pulled out one of the Iron Boots, slipped it on, latched it and stepped onto the switch.

A beam of light came up from around the switch and hit the teal rock. The Iron Boot shot up, flipped Sam around and shot out of the water to attach to the teal rock.

"What the...Magnetic rock?" he pondered.

Sam pulled out the other Iron Boot and it slipped from his hand and stuck to the teal stone as well. He slipped his other foot into the boot and latched it.

One step at a time, Sam made his way up and around to the top of the rounded platform. Ooccoo flew up to the platform and they continued through the caverns.


	17. Goron Mines, Part Two

Sam and Ooccoo made their way through the caverns. To Sam, it seemed like they'd been in there for days. But according to Midna, it'd only been a few hours.

Sam entered into a large circular room. He stood on a wooden platform that overlooked a pool of lava thirty feet below.

A platform of magnetic rock was suspended in the middle of the room, making a walk way from one side of the room to the other.

Sam walked out onto the platform. Out of nowhere, a large Goron, far bigger than most, jumped down from the ceiling and shook the magnetic platform.

Sam tapped his foot and the Iron Boots appeared on his feet, holding him steady on the slippery rock.

The chains that held up the floating platform snapped, sending the platform into the lava. The platform stayed floating in the lava, but was leaning over on the side where the Goron stood.

"Humans don't belong here!" the Goron shouted. "You've no right to be here!"

"But your elder, Gor Coron-" Sam began.

"I'll teach you for messing around in my tribe's sacred mine!"

* * *

The Goron rolled into a ball and rammed towards Sam. Sam held his hands up, ready for the attack. He grabbed the Goron and threw the rock creature into the lava.

The Goron leaped back from the lava, untouched by the molten rock. He grabbed Sam by the throat and threw him across the platform.

The Iron Boots kept Sam on his feet, but his head was spinning from the slight lack of oxygen. He shook his head and looked up just in time to catch the Goron and throw him off the platform again.

The Goron came out again, finally defeated.

"You're a strong little human," the Goron sighed. "You must be here to help Darbus."

"Yeah," Sam replied. "And I'd like to get on with it. I've got a friend in the village at the foot of the mountain waiting for me."

"My name is Dangoro. Sorry for this battle, Ididn't realize who you were. I'll let you pass, you may also take the sacred weapon in the next room."

More chains fell from the ceiling, linked to the platform and pulled it back up. Sam looked at one door, then at the other.

"Which one leads forward?" he asked.

"That one." Dangoro pointed to the door to the left of the room.

"Okay, thanks."

Sam went through the door and entered into a new room. A rocky platform led to the center of the room, where a steel treasure chest stood.

He walked up to it and pulled the lid up. Inside was a maple long bow. Sitting next to it was a leather quiver full of arrows.

"Alright!" he laughed. He took out the quiver and strapped it under his shield. "Now I don't have to use a sword all the time!"

'What's so wrong with just using a sword?' Midna asked.

'Nothing's wrong with just using a sword,' Sam replied. 'But I happen to be stronger with a bow than a sword.'

'Well, come on! Let's get going!'

'Okay, okay! Don't bite my head off!'

* * *

Sam kept going through the mines, Ooccoo had pointed him in the right direction and left. She'd said she had something to do, but Sam was sure he could find his way to the treasure room.

Sam ran around the whole maze of caverns until they came to the final room, the treasure room. It was locked with a square lock, made of the magnetic stone.

Sam held up the restored key and it flew into the keyhole. The key turned and the locked fell to the floor. The chains fell in a heep on the metal floor.

The heavy iron door lifted up, allowing Sam to enter. Sam walked into the room. It was circular. Seven black, stone pillars rose up from the floor to support the ceiling. Most of the floor was red stone, but a circle in the center of the room was made of magnetic rock.

The iron door dropped down with a clang, locking Sam into the room. In the center of the room, was a black creature. It's arms were chained to the ceiling.

'Midna, what is that?' Sam asked.

'Fyrus, the beast of Death Mountain.' Midna replied. 'He's said to be just a legend in Goron history, but the Fused Shadow must've brought the legend to life.'

'But, if he's chained up he can't hurt me, right?'

'Think again.'

Sam shook his head to clear is thoughts. He looked up to see Fyrus had awoken and was pulling the chains apart.

"Oh...snap."


	18. Goron Mines, Part Three

The chains snapped like twigs. Fyrus was free from his prison. The black creature burst into flame, as if it were fire itself. A burst of fire shot out towards Sam. 

He rolled to the side, just barely missing the fire. He took out his sword and bolted at Fyrus, bringing the sword down on one of the beasts legs.

The attack did nothing, except to trigger an explosion. Sam flew across the room and hit the wall. He stood up again and put the sword away.

"What else can I use?" he growled. "The sword is useless along with anything for direct combat. The bow!"

He pulled the long bow out from his bag and pulled an arrow from the quiver. Quickly placing the arrow on the bowstring, Sam aimed for the creature's head.

Sam pulled back and let go the bowstring. The arrow hit Fyrus right between the eyes, caused another explosion and blinded the fire beast.

Sam noticed the chain on Fyrus's leg had a handle on it. He ran out, grabbed the handle and tapped his left foot. The Iron Boots appeared on his feet.

Sam sprinted backwards and pulled on the chain. Fyrus fell to the ground and the fire went out. Sam released his grip on the handle, removed the boots and took out his sword.

He ran around to face Fyrus. He held the sword in both hands and forced it into the beast's skull. Fyrus roared. The beast's right hand burst into flame and he slashed at Sam.

* * *

Sam ducked, just barely missing the attack. He rolled out of reach of the monster and stood up again.

He reached for another arrow, placed it on the string, pulled back and let the arrow fly into Fyrus's eye. There was another explosion, leaving Fyrus blind.

Sam ran out and pulled the chain again, pulling Fyrus to the ground. He ran back around to face the beast and again forced his sword into Fyrus's skull.

Fyrus didn't move. Sam drew his sword out of the beast's skull and sheathed it. The fire had died, the darkness of the creature began to turn brown.

Fyrus changed from a black monster to a Goron. The Goron was unconscious. There was a sharp clang and Sam noticed another Fused Shadow laying next to his foot.

"One more to go," Midna sighed. She came out into the open and took the Fused Shadow. "Lets get going. I'm worried about Lara."


	19. Back in Kakariko

Midna pulled a black stone from thin air and smashed it down onto the ground. The floor disappeared and Sam fell a short ways to land on the dirt road in Kakariko. 

"Ahh, Sam!"

Sam turned to see Renado walking towards him.

"Has something happened?" Sam asked. "Is Lara okay?"

"She's doing fine. The antidote has cleared out the poison, but she's got to rest for another day."

"At least it didn't get any worse. Can I go up and see her?"

"I've just given her something to help her sleep, but she should still be awake."

Sam walked into the inn, up the stairs and into the small room. Lara was sitting up in the bed. She didn't notice him, she was looking out the window.

"Hey," Sam said. He sat on the bed.

"Hi," Lara replied. She turned to face him. "Where've you been? I just woke up a few minutes ago and you weren't here."

"I've been around."

"I'm feeling better, can we go now?"

"No. Right now, you should get some rest, you're not going anywhere until tomorrow."

"But I can't sleep. I'm too awake to go to sleep."

Lara picked up the small cup from the bedside table and took a sip of it. She set it back on the table and lied down.

"Renado said he'd just given you something to help with sleeping." Sam said. "Just try to sleep, okay?"

Lara nodded, closed her eyes and fell asleep right away. The liquid in the cup must've had a sleeping herb mixed into it.

"Sam, you should rest as well," a voice said.

Sam turned to see Renado standing in the door way.

"Nah, I'll be fine." Sam replied.

"You look like you've been up for a week with no sleep," Renado pointed out. "It wouldn't hurt for you to rest, you don't even have to leave this room."

Sam stood up, walked over to the spare bed and lied down on it. He wasn't going to argue with the shaman, but he didn't feel like he could sleep.

"Do you want something to help you sleep?" Renado asked.

"No thanks."

"Alright."

Renado left. Sam stared up at the wooden ceiling. He wasn't sure how long he was looking up at the ceiling, but after a short time fatigue rushed over him. He was asleep, lost in his subconscious mind.

* * *

When Sam awoke, it was early morning. The first light of dawn creeped through the window. He hadn't meant to sleep for so long. He sat up and looked over at Lara. She was still asleep. 

'I hope she wakes up soon,' he thought to himself. 'We've got to get going before noon.'

'Let her rest,' Midna's voice came. 'The more sleep she gets, the more strength she'll recover.'

'But still, if she sleeps for too long we'll have to wait until tomorrow to leave.'

'What? Are you afraid of the dark?'

'No, not the dark. What's in the dark scares me more. I'm not used to this land, I don't know what to expect.'

'Lara would know what to expect.'

'But she can't always warn me of danger.'

'True.'

Sam dropped the subject and looked over at Lara again. She was awake now, sitting up in bed and rubbing her head with both hands.

"Hey," Sam said. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I got hit over the head with a metal baseball bat," Lara replied. "What on earth was that stuff Renado gave me?"

"No idea. You can ask him if you want."

"Nah, I don't want to know that badly."

"You feel like going on, or do you wanna rest some more?"

"Lets go. I can rest later."

"Wait."

Sam stood up, walked over to Lara and placed a hand on her forehead.

"No fever. We can go," Sam said.

"If I had a fever I-"

"-Would've said you were alright just to get out of here."

Lara sighed, she knew Sam was right. She stood up and placed both the Iron Boots in her bag. They'd been sitting there for a few days along with the wooden shield.

"So, up Death Mountain we go," she said.

"Uhh, I already went up," Sam said. "Got the Fused Shadow."

"Without me?"

"Yeah."

"Darn. I wanted to walk around on the magnetic rock."

"We can go back later, if you want."

"Okay. But sometime before we defeat Zant."

"We're going into the Twilight, aren't we?"

"Yeah, why?"

Sam took the Hylian shield off his back and placed it on the bed. He took off the quiver, placed it next to the shield and put the bow ontop of both.

"I can't use that stuff as a wolf," Sam explained. "You can use it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. You can give it all back to me when we destory the Twilight."

"Alright."

Lara strapped the quiver to her back, then the shield over it. She put the bow into her bag and started looking around for something else.

"Where're my daggers?" she asked.

Sam nodded towards the door. The two daggers were sitting on the table next to the door. Lara walked over, picked them up and slipped them back into the sheathes.

* * *

**Snowfur: I figured out how crappy the last update had been, so I took it off and re-wrote it into three chapters! Got rid of the silly plot twist, cause it was pointless. Anyways, updates coming soon!**


	20. Twilight Lanayru Province

They walked down the stairs and out of the inn. Renado was walking towards them with Colin right behind him.

"Ahh, feeling better I see," Renado laughed. "Good to see you up on your feet again."

Lara nodded to the shaman. Renado pulled a small bag from his pocket and handed it to Lara.

"These are pain relieving herbs," he explained. "You might find they work better than the alcohol you used on Sam for his shoulder. And don't worry about doing anything else to it, I fixed most of the damage while he was sleeping."

_'Tell him I say thanks,'_ Lara signed.

"She said thank you," Sam repeated outloud.

"Sam," Colin began. "You've got to find Ilia."

"Do you know where she is?"

"I'm not sure. But she isn't anywhere near here."

"Don't worry, I'll bring her back."

Lara put the pouch of herbs into her belt bag. Sam found Epona near the inn and brought her around to the front of the building.

"Lara, you want to sit up front or in back?" he asked.

_'Doesn't matter to me,'_ she replied. _'So long as I don't have to control her, I'm fine either way.'_

"Then I'll sit in the saddle."

Sam climbed up into the saddle and held his hand down to Lara. She took it and he pulled her up to sit behind him.

"Sam, hold on!"

Sam looked up. Barnes was walking towards him. He had two small bags with him.

"Hey, Barnes," Sam said.

"Sam, look at what I've got here," Barnes held up one of the bags to Sam. "Go on, open it."

Sam pulled the top of the pouch open and found twenty bombs stuffed in it.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed. "That's alot of ammo."

"And I'm willing to sell you those and these in this other bag."

"How much for all of it?"

"Well, I was thinking a hundred for all of it, what do ya think?"

"Uhh...A hundred is a good price, right?"

"Good as you're going to get with him," Lara whispered.

"Alright, a hundred it is."

Sam pulled two purple Rupee from his wallet and handed them to Barnes. Barnes handed over the other bag of bombs. Barnes went back into his shop.

"Here," Sam said. He handed the closed bag of bombs to Lara. "You might want some."

Sam tied his own bomb bag to his belt.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Lara asked. "I'm not good at riding horses..."

"We'll go slow, okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

"So, where're we heading next?" Sam asked.

"The Lanayru Province," Lara replied. "It's the largest part of Hyrule and it's the only province that connects to the Gerudo Desert and Snowpeak."

They crossed over the stone bridge. As they reached the solid ground on the other side of canyon the wind began to blow harder. Epona's ears twitched, she could sense something coming.

'Sam!' Midna exclaimed. 'Twilight Messangers!'

Sam looked around, there weren't any Twilight Messangers. Even though he couldn't see them, he could feel their presence.

"Something wrong?" Lara asked.

"Just had a feeling..." Sam replied. "Like something was watching us."

"Hmm...There should've been three Twilight Messangers here."

"Oh, they're here alright."

"But, where?"

"Can't tell...Maybe we should come back, once we've gotten into the Twilight. I might be able to see them in wolf form."

"Good idea."

They continued through the gray stone canyon. They crossed over a short wooden bridge, went a short way farther and stopped near the black wall of Twilight.

"Stay on Epona," Sam said. "You can ride her in the Twilight."

"No I can't," Lara replied. "She'll change form in the Twilight, like everything and everyone else does."

"So, you'll have to walk?"

"Mhmm."

"We'll go at a slow pace, okay? You don't need to get so tired out that you pass out again."

Sam climbed off Epona and helped Lara down to the ground. They walked towards the black wall. Midna didn't even bother to ask them if they were ready.

She went through the black wall and the giant arm shot out from it and grabbed them both, pulling them into the Twilight. As soon as they were inside the Twilight, the giant arm released them.

Sam was back in the wolf form. He stood up and looked around. Lara had gotten to her feet. They walked up the path through the canyon.

Farther up the path was a small bag. It was leather and decorated with hand-made, colorful glass beads.

* * *

"It's Ilia's," Lara said. "She dropped it when she was running away from her kidnappers."

"Follow the scent on the bag?" Sam asked.

"Yup."

Sam bent down and sniffed at the bag. There was one smell, the scent of fresh hay.

"Right, I got it," he said. He closed his eyes and opened them again to the dark world. A purple-pink trail of fog led through the darkness. "It's heading east."

"Go after it. I'll be able to keep up for a while longer."

Sam ran along side the fog, he could hear Lara's footsteps right behind him. The trail led through the canyon, across a field, over a bridge that stretched across a small stream, and up a wooden bridge that led to a large gate.

Sam brought his vision to normal again and found he and Lara were standing infront of a gate leading into a city. The wall surrounding the city was made of white and gray bricks.

"Hyrule Castle Town," Lara said. "I know where to go from here, come on."


	21. Lake Hylia

Lara led the way down the cobble stone walk ways. The city was huge. There were pathways leading all around the town, but they kept to the main street.

They entered town center. A large circular fountain stood in the middle of the clearing of buildings. To the north were several towers made of pure white stone.

Lara led the way down the south road and into a back alleyway. At the end of the alley, there was a large clearing. There was a door leading into a shop of somesort.

The door was opened just a crack, but it was enough for both Lara and Sam to get inside.

They stood in a small tavern. The fireplace had a warm fire burning in it, giving a feeling of comfort in the room.

There were several fiery balls of green light, four in the front room, five closer to the fireplace.

"Use your senses again," Lara said.

"Hmm?" Sam began. "What for?"

"You'll be able to see and hear what the people say."

Sam brought his vision to the darkness again. The five lights near the fireplace were Hylian Guards. The other four were two Hylian woman, a cat and young Zora boy.

The older woman had tanned skin, amber eyes and dark red hair pulled into a pony-tail. She had on a dull yellow-orange dress, a blue jacket and a pair of leather boots.

The younger girl had short, light brown hair, light skin and bright green eyes full of tears. She wore a white blouse, tan pants and leather sandles.

The Zora boy was lying ontop of some boxes. He looked a little green around the scales. Judging from the boy's damp clothes, Sam thought perhaps the Zora had almost drowned, which was near impossible for Zora.

"Is there anything you can do?" the brunette asked.

"Nothing I can do, we have to wait for the doctor to get here," the red head replied.

Sam turned the guards, they were talking about the Lake Hylia Shrine. He walked over to the table and looked at the map.

Lake Hylia was marked on the map, south of Hyrule Castle Town. The guards were planning to investigate something there.

"The guards are going to investigate something at Lake Hylia," Sam said. He shook his head to clear his vision. "Something about the shrine."

"The Lanayru Healing Spring," Lara explained.

"So, we're off to Lake Hylia?"

"Yup."

"Lead on."

* * *

Lara led the way back out of the city and into the field. Sam followed close behind but paid little attention to where they were going. He kept looking over his shoulder, watching out for any monsters.

They walked through a canyon path, across a grassy clearing and to the edge of a cliff. A long stone bridge stretched across a valley far below the cliff.

"That's Lake Hylia," Lara said.

Sam looked down into the valley, but saw no water, except for a large pool below the bridge.

"That little thing is Lake Hylia?" he asked.

"No, the river has frozen over so there isn't so much water now. Come on."

Lara walked onto the bridge, Sam followed right after her. They were about half way across when Sam noticed an odd smell.

"What's that smell?" he coughed. "Smells like gasoline!"

"Wait-gasoline?!" Lara exclaimed. "Oh, snap!"

"What?"

"I completely forgot--look at the floor!"

Sam looked down at the stone floor. There was some dark brown liquid splashed across the bridge, from one end to the other.

"Run!" he exclaimed.

They turned back and ran towards the end of the bridge they'd just come from. A flaming arrow flew from the canyon and landed in the gasoline, setting it on fire.

They whirled around to go the other way, but another wall of a fire had already been set on that side. They were trapped.

"Quick!" Lara ran to the center of the bridge again and climbed up onto the short wall.

"What're you doing?!" Sam asked.

"The pool of water is right below us. If we jump from this spot on the wall, we should fall into the deepest part of the pool."

"But what about my hearing aid?"

"In your wolf form you don't need the hearing aid, so it isn't even there. Hurry, the fire is getting closer!"

Sam leaped up onto the wall beside Lara. From the top of the bridge, the drop down to the pool seemed alot farther than he'd thought.

"Ready?" Lara asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Sam sighed.

"On three. One...two...three!"

* * *

They jumped off the bridge, free falling towards the pool of water. They hit the water with a splash and sank to the bottom of the pool.

Sam pushed himself up and reached the surface in a few seconds. Lara came up as well, coughing out some water.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lara coughed. "Just sucked in some water by accident."

Sam looked around. The valley was completely inclosed by tall cliffs. There wasn't anyway to climb out of the valley.

They swam to the shore of the pool and stepped into thick mud. The mud sloshed under their feet, but was firm enough for them to stay up.

Lara pulled out her staff from her bag and used it to help her walk on the slippery mud. Sam on the other hand, paw in this case, kept slipping and falling in the muck.

They came to a small grassy piece of land. A Twilight Bulblin stood infront of them. Sam stepped up infront of Lara and growled at the creature.

"Sam, you might not want to do that," Lara began.

"You mean you don't want me to defend you?" Sam asked. He looked over his shoulder at her.

"No, I'm not saying that. But-"

* * *

There was a whistle. Sam whirled around. Flying above them was a massive Twilight Kargarok. It's large black wings were pushing and pulling at the wind, keeping the Twilight bird in the air.

The Twilight Bulblin jumped up onto the Kargarok's back, taking charge of it as it's master.

"Oh..."

"That's what I was going to warn you about."

"Think your aim is good enough to bring it down?"

"Might be."

Lara put the staff away and pulled out the Hero's Bow. She took an arrow from the quiver, placed it onto the string and aimed. In a quick motion, she pulled back the bowstring and let the arrow fly.

The arrow hit the Twilight Bulblin, sending to the ground below. Sam bolted at it and slashed it's throat, killing it at once.

Midna appeared and flew up to land on the Kargarok's back. The Twilight bird hissed and tried to shake Midna off.

"Stop it!" Midna snarled. "I'm your master now, do as I say!"

The bird settled down but didn't land on the grass.

"We can get to Zora's Domain with this guy!" Midna laughed. "Hold still you two."

The Twilight Kargarok swooped down, grabbed Sam in one talon and Lara in the other. Midna directed the Kargarok to the large opening in the cliff wall.


	22. Up Zora's River and into Zora's Domain

They entered the dark tunnel. There wasn't much light, and even the small amount they had didn't show them alot.

"Sam, use your senses!" Lara called. "They can double back as night vision, you'll be able to see what's ahead!"

Sam switched his vision, making the world dark. But instead of everything being black, everything was green, blue and white. Dark figures stood along the walls of the tunnel.

"Twilight Bulblin," Sam snarled. "Better hold onto something."

Lara slipped the bow into her bag and wrapped her arms around the Kargarok's talon. The Kargarok swooped around rocks and wooden support beams while avoiding flaming arrows being shot at it.

They came out of the tunnel and the Kargarok dropped them at the bottom of a short cliff.

"What's this?" Sam asked. He shook out his fur then looked at the ground. "Snow?"

The floor of the small canyon was covered with a thin layer of snow. As the path continued up and out of sight, the snow changed to ice.

A swift breeze swooped down the path, it's icey touch sent a chill down Sam's spine.

"Almost there," Lara sighed. "Come on, it won't take long now."

They slowly walked across the ice, trying not to slip. At the end of the long canyon, they entered a clearing. Cliffs stretched high above them, creating a feeling of being inside a tower.

A frozen waterfall stood infront of the farthest wall. It stretched up to the top of one of the cliffs and vanished from behind the rocks.

"You up for some ice climbing?" Lara asked.

"If you are, I am," Sam replied.

"Midna, will you be so kind as to guide us up the ice?"

"Are you kidding?!" Midna snarled. She appeared infront of Lara, glaring at the taller girl. "You couldn't climb up that!"

"And, why not?"

"One, you're too weak. Two, you don't have any animal skills for jumping!"

"Midna, Midna, Midna...how many times do I have to explain it? There's always a way around every problem."

"Oh, let me guess, you're going to take out your immunity to the Twilight just long enough to climb up there?"

"Nice thought, but I don't think that's possible."

"Here's an idea. Why don't you stay down here, while Sam and I go up?"

"No!" Sam and Lara exclaimed.

"I'm not leaving Lara again," Sam growled. "Not after the last time."

"And I'm not leaving Sam," Lara agreed. "There're more dangers the farther into this adventure we go and Sam will need help."

"But you can't get up there!" Midna snarled. "You're not strong enough to climb up there!"

"You know," Sam sighed. "She _does_ have a point...Is there anything up there to be worried about?"

"Twilight Messangers," Lara replied. "But that's it."

"You, stay down here, don't move."

"But-"

"You'll be safer down here, rather than climbing the ice."

"...Okay. Be careful, there're some ice chunks that'll fall in your path."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful."

* * *

Sam began to climb up the water fall, jumping from one ledge to the other. The first ten feet was easy but farther up, the ledges became thiner and slicker. 

Once or twice, Sam almost slipped but he'd managed to keep his footing. He reached the top of the waterfall and found the froze water led into a large chamber.

He walked into the chamber. Several pillars decorated with brightly colored coral stood around the room from floor to ceiling.

In the center of the chamber, where the frozen water became a deep frozen pool, three Twilight Messangers stood hissing at one another.

Sam was too far for them to see him, but he was close enough to hear what they were saying.

"I don't like it," the largest of the three growled. "I doubt the princess would've gotten up here, she's far too weak after she got poisoned."

"Then one of us should go down there, and take her back to the castle," the smallest said. "That is all King Zant wanted, the princess returned to the castle."

"I'll see to the princess," the third said. "You two stay here and kill that wolf if he shows up."

'Midna, go to Lara,' Sam thought. 'Go before the Twilight Messanger gets to her first!'

'Alright, alright!' Midna sighed.

Midna appeared for a moment, then flew down the path and over the waterfall. Sam walked farther into the chamber, to where the Twilight Messangers could see him.

"Speak of the devil," the smaller laughed. "Better get going, the princess is no doubt waiting at the bottom of the waterfall."

The middle Twilight Messanger began to make his way towards Sam. Sam leaped at the creature, but the larger Twilight Messanger grabbed him and threw him into one of the pillars.

The large Twilight Messanger held Sam to the floor. Sam tried to break free from the creature's grasp, but he couldn't.

The smaller Twilight Messanger stood above Sam. It held up one claw which began to glow red.

"Time for you to go," the Twilight Messanger laughed. "Say good-bye!"

The Twilight Messanger raised it's claw, ready to strike. An arrow struck the creature's flat head, making it explode in a blast of black-purple smoke.

Another arrow killed the larger Twilight Messanger. Sam got up and looked around. Lara was sitting on the ice, the Hero's Bow lay beside her.

* * *

"D-didn't I tell you to be careful?" Lara coughed. 

"Yes," Sam sighed. He walked over to her and sat beside her. "You okay?"

"I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"How'd you get up here?"

"Climbed up. I was half way up when Midna came and told me about the Twilight Messangers."

"I told you to stay down there."

"Sorry. I was worried."

"Oh."

Sam wasn't sure if he was supposed to comfort Lara or let her have some time to think. In all the time they'd known each other, they both had a fear of hurting each other. He didn't want to hurt her, but he wasn't sure what to do.

"...I can forgive you for being worried," he finally said. "But you should've thought things through, before you came up here."

"I know..." Lara sighed. She stood up and walked to the center of the ice pool. "Did you see this yet?"

"See what?"

Sam walked over to where Lara was and looked into the ice. It was clear and showed what was under the thick ice. Flaming balls of green fire floated in the water below.

"Oh, no...Don't tell me those are the Zora," Sam said.

"Use your senses and see for yourself," Lara replied.

Sam switched his vision and he looked again. Fish-like people floated in the water, most were unconscious, some were dead.

"This is just like in Ocarina of Time..." he sighed. "We've got to get them out!"

"There's a portal above us," Lara said. "We can use it to get to Death Mountain."

"Why Death Mountain?"

"Didn't a large fiery rock almost kill you while you were up there?"

Sam thought back. He'd been walking around the small valley where the Goron Mines were built. A large rock had almost crushed him under stone and fire, but he'd gotten away in time.

"Yeah." Sam said.

"Okay, and you killed the Twilight Messangers that'd been there, right?"

"Mhmm."

"Then, we go over there, get the rock, bring it back and melt the ice. Easy as pie."

"Alright, lets get going."

Lara ran over to the Hero's Bow and put it into her bag.

"Don't want to forget that," she said. She walked over again and pulled out the black marble. She dropped it on the ground and the black ring surrounded them.

* * *

The floor vanished and they fell into the small valley on Death Mountain. A few feet away was the rock. It was steaming and crackling, just like it had been when it nearly crushed Sam. 

Midna appeared above the rock. She pointed at the stone and a wave of black and red sparks shot around it. It vanished into the portal above.

"Come on," Midna said. "By the time we get there, the ice should have begun to melt."

Lara picked up the marble and put it into her bag again. There was a flash of light, which blinded Sam for a moment. He felt like he was falling, then he hit water.

His vision came back to him and he looked around. He and Lara were floating in the pool of water in Zora's Domain. The ice had completely melted and the water rushed out of the chamber to the outside.

"With this much water coming so fast, the lake will fill up so fast it'll be full within the hour." Midna said. "We'll be able to reach the Healing Spring, lets get going!"

"We have to take the river down to the lake," Lara said. "We can't warp there yet, since we havn't defeated the Twilight Messangers there."

"Is it safe?" Sam asked.

"Safe enough."

"Alright. Lets try and stay together though."

* * *

**Snowfur: Sorry for the long wait everyone, I had a ton of stuff going on this past week and I didn't get around to writing until today.**

**Vampyer: Boo!**

**Snowfur: Gah! Don't do that! You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!**

**Vampyer: But it was perfect!**

**Snowfur: I'll deal with you in a minute...Incase any of you are wondering, Vampyer is the real Sam and no, he doesn't have a username on here. Anyway, updates are coming soon.  
**


	23. Hunting Twilight Parasite

"Wait!"

Sam and Lara turned around. A figure stood before them, a Zora. She floated above the floor, this was a ghost of a Zora. It wore an elegent, teal dress and a necklace of white coral.

"Thank you for saving my people," the ghost said. "Might I ask you a favor?"

"If you'll tell us who you ar-" Sam began to say. Lara bumped him with her foot to make him stop. He turned to her and whispered. "What?"

"That's the former Zora Queen," Lara whispered back. "Her name is Rutela."

"She speaks the truth," the Zora said. Lara jumped in surprise. "Forgive me, Zora have increased hearing ability, so that we may hear things under water."

"You wish for a favor from us," Sam began. "What is this you wish of us?"

"When the dark king came here, I sent my son, Prince Ralis, to Hyrule Castle with a message. My husband, the Zora King, was executed shortly before Ralis left."

Neither Sam or Lara dared to speak.

"After Ralis left, the dark king demanded to know where he'd gone. I refused to tell him, and he executed me as well. He locked all of the Zora into that frozen pool."

"Ralis is in danger of dying," Rutela continued. "He's in Hyrule Castle Town. I wish it of you to save my son, if you do so I'll reward you both with something precious. Please save Prince Ralis!"

Rutela faded away. Sam shook himself to clear his head.

"Was that supposed to happen?" he asked.

"Yes, it's important for the next part of the game," Lara replied. "Come on, we'd better get moving."

They turned to the rushing water and jumped in, letting the water take them down the river.

* * *

Sam opened his eyes. He was laying on a dark cobble stone platform. Lara sat a little farther away. She was coughing slightly.

"Hey," Lara coughed. "You okay?"

"I think so," Sam replied. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure, I blacked out."

"Well, where are we now?"

"Outside the Lanayru Healing Spring. You think you can walk?"

"Yeah."

"Alright."

Lara stood up and looked towards a dark cave infront of them.

Sam stood up and walked beside Lara as they entered the cave. An enchanted light lit the cave. Tree roots grew up the walls and came up together at the center of the ceiling.

They were standing on a cliff, where a short platform stretched out above a deep pool of water. Sam knew exactly where they were. This was the same cavern where his dream had taken place.

A dull glowing ball of light floated above the water.

"Spirit of Light, Lanayru!" Lara called. "We've come from the forests of Ordon and Faron and the canyon of Eldin! How might we help you in recovering the light?"

"The light is gone," a deep, raspy voice replied. "Find the light from the Twilight insects."

A third Vessel of Light appeared on the ground infront of them. Sam looked up at Lara.

"It doesn't seem to be very safe around here," Sam said. "Think you can keep up with me for a little while? We'll both be safer if we stick together."

"I can keep up for a while," Lara replied. "Just so long as you don't expect me to go into the water."

"Hmm? What's wrong with the water?"

"The last Twilight Parasite is in the water, near the waterfall. It'll put up a big fight, almost killed me while I was trying to do it in the game."

"So, this thing could kill one or both of us..."

"Yeah."

"Is there always _something_ out to get us, that could kill one or both us?!"

"At times it seems like that, but it's just paranoia. But since you're used to your wolf form, the battle shouldn't be too hard. That is if Midna is willing to go with you, rather than me."

Part of Lara's shadow shifted out of place and joined with Sam's shadow.

"...I guess Midna agrees with me," Lara laughed. "Let's get going."

* * *

They found all of the Twilight Parasite, except for the last one. They'd traveled to Hyrule Castle Town and unlocked a few portals so now they could warp to Lake Hylia and the gate of the city.

They appeared at the lake. Sam looked towards the waterfall to see a large amount of purple-pink sparks in the water.

"That's the Twilight Parasite," Lara said. She must've been able to see the sparks. "It's going to start raining, so keep moving no matter what."

"You may need to use the bow," Sam pointed out. "Get as close as you can without going in the water."

"I'm not good with the bow though, you know that."

"You've gotta try. If I die, you'll end up captured or killed."

"Okay, I'll try," Lara sighed. "But I can't make any guarantees."

They walked down the wooden walkway and to the black cobble stone platform. Sam leaped into the water and swam towards the floating wood near the waterfall.

The sparks had stopped by now, waiting for Sam to get onto a raft. As soon as he'd gotten up onto one of the rafts, the sparks appeared over head.

Sam switched his sight to the dark world and yelped at what he saw. A massive bug the size of an elephant floated above him. Just that small second of hesitation was enough of a chance for the Twilight Parasite to attack.

Sam was thrown onto the wet floor, his left side had been scratched and blood was soaking his fur. He got right back up again and frantically looked around.

The insect had vanished, but Sam still had the feeling it was hiding from him, waiting for just the right moment to attack. There was a splash behind him, he whirled around to see the bug rushing towards him through the water.

* * *

An arrow hit the Twilight Parasite in the back. Sam looked up to see Lara had another arrow on the bow string and had it ready for another long ranged attack.

The Twilight Parasite had spotted Lara and shot a ball of green goo towards her.

"Lara, run!" Sam yelled. But he knew he was too far away for her to hear him.

Lara shot the arrow straight through the goo, hopeing it would hit the Twilight Parasite, which it did. Sam leaped up onto the insects head and he snapped the bug's neck clear off it's shoulders.

It exploded in a blue light and the final ball of light fell into the Vessel of Light. Sam turned back towards the cave. Lara was leaning against one of the black stone pillars.

Sam swam over to the platform.

"You okay?" Sam asked. He noticed Lara was holding her head with her right hand. "Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine, the goo didn't get me," Lara sighed. "I just have a headache."

"From the lack of sleep, most likely."

"I don't think it's from the lack of sleep."

"You never know. When we get done here, the Twilight is gone and we've found a way out of here, we'll rest."

"Alright."

* * *

**I'm sorry for the long wait again guys! I'll try to get the next chapter up by tomorrow night if I can.**


	24. The Vision

They stepped onto the cliff inside the cave. Sam stepped forward to stand on the platform above the water. He held up the Vessel of Light.

There was a flash of light, which blinded Sam for a moment. Once the light had gone, Sam opened his eyes and found himself staring into the lifeless eyes of a large golden snake.

Sam didn't know what it was, but he couldn't look away from the snake's eyes.

"I am Lanayru," the snake hissed. "I thank you for restoring the light. Darkness hides in the temple below Lake Hylia, it's evil magic is quite strong, even to me."

"How can we get to the bottom of the lake?" Sam asked.

"That is for you to figure out yourself. But first, you must see something."

* * *

The world fell into darkness around Sam. He stood in an endless valley of shadow. A light appeared a little ways infront of him. He could see three triangles, one on top of the other two.

It was the golden treasure of the Goddesses, the Triforce. Standing between him and the golden treasure, was a brown haired boy and a brown haired girl.

'That's me and Lara...' he thought to himself. 'Shadows of us anyway. What the heck is going on?'

Sam noticed the shadow of Lara had something in her hand, a knife. She raised her hand and prepared to stab Sam's shadow in the back.

But his shadow was faster, and it killed the other shadow with his sword. Sam stared in horror, he'd never kill a friend, not even in self-defence!

His shadow raced towards the Triforce, leaving the bloody sword behind. Three figures appeared just infront of the golden treasure, figures of darkness with black tunics and red eyes.

Sam's shadow halted as the other three raised their hands. The single shadow began to cry out, but was cut off short as his body crumbled to dust and vanished.

Sam looked back to the other three and found the center one had been replaced by his own shadow. A black form covered the Triforce. Sam thought maybe it was part of a helmet or something.

The black form vanished, taking the Triforce with it. Two of the shadows growled in anger, but Sam's shadow cried out a blood curdling yell.

Sam held his hands over his ears to block out the yell, but it was still there, beating into his head.

* * *

"Sam!"

Sam snapped back to reality. Lanayru had gone and the enchanted light glowed under the water. Sam was human again and he realized he himself had been the one yelling.

He felt weak, like he'd been running forever. His knees buckled underneath him, but Lara run over and caught him before he fell.

"Don't try to talk," she said. "Not until you're on the ground."

He slowly sat down on the rock and pushed himself back to lean against the wall. His head was clouded, making it somewhat hard to think.

"Here," Lara handed him a bottle with red potion in it. "You need it more than I do."

Sam drank it quickly and felt some of his strength return, but not much of it.

* * *

"What happened?" he asked.

"Lanayru put you into a trance of somesort. Then he vanished and you started screaming. I had to yell at you to wake you up."

"Yeah, I heard you yell."

"What did you see?"

"Huh?"

"While you were under the trance, you must've seen something."

"It was nothing-"

"It was more than nothing to make you scream. It was a vision of the Triforce, wasn't it? The Legend of the Triforce?"

"How'd you-?"

"I've played this game over so many times, I've memorized a good bit of the script."

"...Yeah it was the vision of the Triforce."

"We should rest here for a while," Lara suggested. "Won't do us any good if you pass out in the middle of a battle."

"I won't-"

"You're about to already!"

Sam fell silent. True, he was weak and it'd been a while since he'd last slept. A day, maybe two, he didn't remember.

"Fine, we'll rest here," he sighed. "But don't sleep for too long, we still gotta find a way outta this canyon."

"I already know the way out," Lara replied. She sat on the ground beside him. "We just have to have twenty Rupees, then we're free of the canyon and on our way back to Hyrule Castle Town."

"Why Hyrule Castle Town?"

"We gotta save the Zora Prince, remember?"

"Yeah."

"So, go to sleep. We'll both need strength for the next part of this game."


	25. Slight Delay of Plans

Sam opened his eyes. He was still in the cave where the Lanayru Healing Spring stood. He guessed he'd fallen asleep.

He looked to his right, where Lara had been sitting. She was fast asleep and leaning her head on Sam's shoulder.

Sam lightly tapped her shoulder to wake her up. She opened her eyes and looked around. After quickly realizing what her head was leaning against she sat up right and moved a little to the right.

"Sorry," she said. "Didn't mean to do that..."

"Nah, it's okay," Sam replied. "You probably did it in your sleep, nothing you could've done about it."

Lara didn't reply but her face grew pinkish-red with embarrassment. She stood up and walked down the cliff to the edge of the spring.

"Sam, get down here," she called.

"What for?" Sam asked. He got to his feet and walked part way down the slope.

"You're taking a bath, right now."

"...You're kidding, right?"

"Incase you havn't noticed, you've been covered in mud, blood and who knows what else and it's rather offensive."

"Right, so, I'm just supposed to get undressed and jump into the water while you're standing here?"

"I'm not staying to watch you take a bath. I'm gonna go get something for our breakfast."

"Okay, but take Midna with you."

Midna appeared beside Lara.

"I wouldn't stick around here if you paid me," the imp laughed. "I mean I wouldn't _mind_ watching you, but Lara happens to understand me better than you do."

"Oh yeah, thanks for that note of encouragement," Lara said. "We'll be back in an hour or so, depending on what we can find."

"Right, don't get into trouble," Sam said.

"I won't. Oh, better leave you this."

Lara pulled a few wool blankets out of her bag and set them on the floor. She also pulled out a long black cloak and placed it next to the blankets.

Midna jumped back to Lara's shadow as Lara walked up the slope. She walked out of the cave but stopped just outside and waited until she heard a splash from inside.

* * *

"Alright, fish is good," she said. "But fish is hard to catch around here...Midna do you think it'd be possible to warp?"

'Maybe,' Midna's voice replied inside Lara's head. 'Why? Got some evil plan to get some food?'

'More like we wrap to the gates of Hyrule Castle Town, buy some food in the market place and warp back here.'

'Yeah, we could do that.'

'Right, here it goes.'

Lara pulled out the black marble and dropped it. The black ring appeared and Lara fell through it to land at the wooden bridge to Hyrule Castle Town.

Lara pulled out her cloak, wrapped it around herself and pulled up the hood before she walked into town. She didn't want to be recognized by anyone, especially if someone had seen her when she was brought to the castle.

The streets were crowded with early morning shoppers. All along the southern road, there were stalls of food, weaponry and other such goods.

Lara bought two loaves of bread, a few fish, some apples and a small bag of tea leaves. As she walked up the road to leave town, two guards stopped her.

"Miss, we've reason to believe you've stolen those," the large, plump guard said.

"But, I paid for all of it!" Lara protested.

"Not according to the owners of the stalls," the slender guard replied. "Come on, you're going to our headquarters."

'Midna, think of something!' Lara thought.

'Stall them while I try and warp us back to Lake Hylia!' Midna replied.

"Uh, you can't do that!" Lara exclaimed. "I mean, I paid for this! And why would you want to arrest someone for buying some food? Is it a crime?"

"Well, no," the large guard replied. "But we've orders to-"

"-to keep the peace, blah blah blah, who cares? I mean, the almighty Princess is locked away in the castle, isn't she? So what's the point of going about doing your duties if there's no one to give new orders?"

Both of the guards looked stunded for a moment, then they each held their pikes to Lara's throat.

"You're under arrest for disturbing the peace. We can do this the easy way or-"

'Go Lara!' Midna exclaimed. 'I can't get you out of here so far inside the city gates!'

Lara turned around and bolted down the street. She jumped over and around other guards that came between her and the gate to the outside.

She ran down the bridge towards the field, knowing she was now a sitting duck for any archers on the wall. Just a few more feet, that was all she needed.

She whirled around to face the on coming guards. What she didn't expect was to be shot with an iron arrow and teleported back to Lake Hylia at the same time.

* * *

Lara stood in the small grassy area above the Lanayru Shire. The arrow had only gone a few inches into her shoulder and had missed the bone all together, but it was still painful to move her right arm.

"Great, now I'll have to be left handed," she growled.

She walked down the wooden walkway to the cave. But she didn't go in just yet.

"Sam!" she called. "You done?"

"Yeah," Sam called back. "Did you find anything?"

Lara entered the cave to find Sam had started a small fire. He was soaking wet, even though his tunic was dry. He hadn't put the hat on yet.

"Oh, gosh!" Sam exclaimed. He jumped to his feet and looked over Lara's shoulder. "What happened?"

"Falsely accused of stealing food," Lara sighed. "Would you mind pulling the arrow out, it's locked my cloak in place."

"Yeah, sit done first."

Lara set the food on one of the blankets then sat down on the floor. She leaned her back against the wall.

"Alright," Sam said. He held the arrow in his left hand while he kept a grip on Lara's left shoulder with his right hand. "You want anything for this?"

"No, just pull it out," Lara replied. "I can't reach my bag anyways."

"Brace yourself, it's gonna hurt."

A swift jerk pulled the arrow out and Lara had to bite her tounge to keep from screaming. The arrow was bloody and as Lara took off her cloak, she could see the arrow had gone deeper than she thought.

"Need to stop the bleeding," she growled. "You'll have to leave for this part."

"But you can't-"

Midna appeared and whispered something to Sam. He seemed shocked at what Midna had to say, but he got up and left the cave.

"What'd you tell him?"

"Told him the truth," Midna laughed. "_Most_ of it anyway."


	26. Back on Track

"What _exactly_ did you tell him?" Lara asked.

"That you stole the food, got caught, were arrested, then you escaped and were shot just before I warped you back here."

"But I didn't steal the food, I paid for it!"

"No, you put some Rupees on the table where the owner of the stalls sat, you didn't actually give them their money for the food."

"So, I _did_ technically steal the food?"

"Technically speaking, yes."

"...That sucks."

Lara quickly stopped the bleeding and wrapped some cloth around the wound. Once she'd pulled her arm through the sleeve of her tunic, she stood up and walked outside.

Sam stood a little way away, looking out across the water. He didn't even turn to look at Lara when she walked up to him.

"Sam," she began. "I know this looks bad-"

"You stole something," Sam cut her off. "Why would you do something like that?"

"I didn't! I put the money on the table where the owner of the stall was sitting!"

"Then why'd the guards arrest you?"

"I don't know, maybe there'd been someone else who was wearing a cloak like mine who stole food. So, they thought I was the theif."

Sam suddenly burst out with laughter. Lara was somewhat confused as to why he was laughing.

"You goof! I know you'd never steal anything," he laughed. "You're not that kind of person!"

Lara remained silent, not entirely sure what to say. Sam stopped laughing and turned Lara.

"Come on, lets get breakfast cooked," he said. "Then we can figure out what to do next."

* * *

"Alright, so if you can't go into the city, I'll have to go alone." Sam said. "You'll need to tell me what to do before hand, so I don't have to come ask you again."

"You need to go to the bar where Ilia was," Lara said. "You'll have a quick word of the owner, then you'll be hired to escort them and the Zora Prince across Hyrule to Kakariko Village."

"Do I get a choice in the matter?"

"No."

"Doh."

"It's not that bad. It'd be harder with just one person escorting them, but since there're two of us, we've got twice as much fire power."

"But what about your shoulder?"

"It's not badly hurt, I can still fight."

They ate in silence for a few moments, neither one sure what to say next.

"If I'm supposed to be the hero," Sam began. "Then who has the Triforce of Courage?"

"I'm not sure," Lara replied. "I know I don't have it. I'm not sure if you do or not, but you'd be the only one who'd have it."

"What about the Triforce of Wisdom?"

"Princess Zelda."

"Yeah, that was kinda dumb to ask. And the Triforce of Power, who has that?"

"Right now, Zant."

"Zant has it?"

"Yup."

"Is he from Ganondorf's bloodline or something?"

"Yeah."

"Weird. But that still wouldn't answer for the Triforce of Courage."

"Okay, either you have it and neither of us know about it, we both have half of it and neither of us know about it, or neither of us have and neither of us know about it."

"That doesn't help."

"But it's the truth, cause I havn't found any evidence of it so far."

Again, silence. They cleaned up the food, packed up what was left and put out the fire. They went up the wooden walkway and across a wooden bridge that led to a floating house.

* * *

They were half way across when Sam saw a person standing outside the house. Lara had seen him too and she jumped behind Sam.

"Lara?" Sam asked. "What is it?"

"It's a clown," Lara replied. "Don't look at his face, he'll steal your soul then feed your dead body to a shark!"

"...I take it you don't like clowns."

"No, I don't."

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you." He pulled Lara around again and held her hand. "I'll make sure he won't."

They walked the rest of the way down the bridge and stopped infront of the man. Sam noticed that Lara's hand was shaking. He tightened his grip slightly, trying to reassure Lara it was okay.

"You customers?" the man asked.

"Yep," Sam replied.

"Well, today's your lucky day! A cannon ride for ten Rupees a person, what'da ya say to that?"

"Can we go together?"

"Yessir."

* * *

"Now, we're on our way," Sam said.

They had taken the cannon ride to the top of the canyon and were now walked up the dirt path.

"Here," Lara said. She picked a brown weed from the side of the road and handed it to Sam. "Blow into it."

"Why?"

"You can call Epona with it."

"Oh."

Sam held the weed to his lips and blew. A short tune came out from the weed, but it was loud enough for Epona to hear. The red mare came galloping down the path and stopped just a few feet infront of them.

"Now why couldn't I have done that back in the forest?" Sam asked.

"She wouldn't have heard you," Lara replied. "Or if she did, she was tied up with Bulblins."

"Okay, you gonna stick around here or come with me?"

"I'll go as far as the edge of the canyon, but I shouldn't go much farther than that."

"Then I'll leave you with Epona, incase you need to escape from trouble in a hurry."

"Alright..."

"...You don't want me to leave you with Epona?"

"I'm kinda scared of horses."

"Then, how've you been able to ride her?"

"Because you're here."

"So, will it be better for me to leave you here without a fast escape, or take Epona as far to the city as I can take her?"

"Take her with you, I'll stay hidden in the canyon and meet you there near sunset."

"Alright." Sam climbed up onto Epona's back and helped Lara up as well. They rode for a short time, to the end of the canyon, where Epona stopped for Lara to get off.

"Stay here-" Sam began to say.

"Don't say it," Lara cut him off. "Everytime you say it, I end up doing it anyhow."

"I'll be back soon."

"Okay. Remember, meet here at sunset!"

* * *

**Ferrion: Okay, I'm gonna be busy next few days, so there's not gonna be many updating this week. If I get the time to write, there should be a chapter or two on Saturday, but I'm not entirely sure.**


	27. From Hyrule Castle Town to Kakariko

It was almost sunset, and no sign of Sam. Lara wondered if maybe he'd lost track of time, or something had held him up. But there wasn't anyway to know for sure, since she'd be taking a big risk to go and look for him.

So, there she sat on a large rock, with a clear view of city gates. The sky was red, yellow and pink as the last strands of sun light faded into the horizon.

"Maybe I should start looking for him..." she said.

She hadn't expected any reply. Midna had gone with Sam into town, to make sure he was going to the right places.

It was getting cold now that the sun was gone. Lara pulled out a wool blanket and wrapped it around herself. She slipped down to sit on the grass, it was softer than the rock at least.

Stars twinkled in the darkening sky. Lara looked up into the sky. It was so peaceful and wonderous. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to listen for any sounds of horse steps

She must've doozed off, for when she opened her eyes again, Sam was standing above her. He looked concerned at first, but after seeing Lara was awake, he relaxed.

"You awake?" he asked.

"Not entirely," Lara yawned. She stood up and put the blanket into her bag again. "How long was I sleeping?"

"I have no idea, but it's getting close to nine o'clock."

"Where were you at sunset?"

"I'd lost track of time."

"Well, you're here now."

"Who's that?" a voice asked.

Sam and Lara looked up. A cart pulled by a black horse came down from the gates. Sitting in the front sit was the red haired woman from the bar.

"This is my companion, Lara," Sam explained. "She's coming with us to Kakariko."

"You never said anything about a companion," the woman laughed. "Or is she _more_ than a companion?"

"We're just _friends_!" Sam and Lara exclaimed.

"Uh huh, sure. Come on, we should get going."

* * *

Sam climbed up onto Epona's back and brought the large horse around so Lara could climb onto the rock to reach the horse. Once she was ready to go, they started off down the canyon road.

They soon came to the bridge that stretched above Lake Hylia. The cart moved aside to let Sam and Lara pass. At the other end of the bridge was the King Bulblin.

"Still alive," Sam growled. "How'd he survive that fall?"

"I dunno," Lara replied. She took out the Hero's Bow and an arrow. "You'll need this. Aim for his heart, it's the fastest way to get rid of him."

Epona slowly walked down the bridge, while the King Bulblin's warthog charged at a high speed. Sam held up the bow, placed the arrow on the string and pointed it straight of the green monster's heart.

In a swift movement, he pulled back on the bowstring and let go, letting the arrow fly. A direct hit. The King Bulblin fell off his warthog and flew down towards the lake.

The warthog kept coming, not realizing it's master had been shot down.

"Take the reins!" Sam exclaimed.

He leaned down, pulled out his sword and stabbed the warthog as it passed. The brown furred creature rolled onto the stone floor, dead.

Sam noticed something had been caught around the blade of his sword. It was a key strung on a leather cord.

"I take it, this is important?" he asked.

"Yeah," Lara replied. "I'll scout ahead, if you want me to."

"No, it'll be safer if we stay together. You can direct Epona, right?"

"Yeah, if you want me to."

Epona stopped and Sam climbed off.

"Get up front, into the saddle," he directed. "I'm better with a bow than you are, so I'll stay behind you and shoot anything that comes up to try and stop us."

"Alright."

* * *

Lara moved up into the saddle and took hold of the reins. Sam climbed up behind her and pulled an arrow from the quiver.

Since the quiver was still latched to Lara's shield, it'd be easier for Sam to reach the arrows. Once the cart had caught up to them, they continued through the canyon.

The path went under the roots of a hallow tree, it was about the same size as the Forest Temple. A few more twists and turns brought them to a locked gate.

Sam slipped off Epona, opened the gate and walked out into a field a short way. He held the bow ready, to attack anything that tried to get past him.

When nothing came, he motioned for the others to come out. They slowly walked along the path to try and avoid being seen by any monsters.

They left Southern Hyrule Field and entered into the valley where Kakariko Gorge was. It was almost midnight, judging from the position of the moon.

They passed through the canyon and came into Kakariko Village. Renado came out from the inn and after a quick word with Telma, he lifted the young Zora from the cart and carried him inside.

Ilia followed after him, she was worried about the Zora and wouldn't leave him until he was well again.

"What now?" Sam asked.

"Go inside and talk to Colin and Renado," Lara replied. "I'll wait out here, I've no part to play in this scene."

"If you move, I'll hit you over the head."

"Hey, it's not my fault that random monsters who follow Zant keep finding me!"

* * *

Sam shrugged, then walked inside. The fireplace was ablaze with a small fire. He climbed up the stairs and found Colin looking into the small room. Ilia and Luda stood beside the bed where the Zora lay.

Renado came out to have a word with Sam and Colin.

"The worst of it has passed," the man said. "He just needs to rest for now."

"I'll watch him, if you want," Colin suggested.

"That'll be helpful, thank you."

"Is it true, about Ilia?"

"Yes, she has indeed lost her memory."

"Will she ever be able to gain it back?" Sam asked. He didn't really care about Ilia, she was a big pain and was a spoiled brat. But he guessed it was the best thing to ask, for playing his part in the game.

"It'll take time," Renado replied. "But she should regain her memory."

Colin went into the small room, while Sam and Renado went outside. The red haired woman stood outside the door. Renado headed towards his house.

"How's that kid?" the woman asked.

"The Zora is doing fine," Sam replied. "Ilia is a mess, but she's okay."

"Oh, we never fully introduced ourselves, did we? I'm Telma."

"Sam."

"Well, Sam, I'd like to see you in my bar again. It's a hideout for my friends, warriors who're trying to bring peace back to Hyrule. You should come by and meet them, when you've got a chance. Your girlfriend is welcome to come too."

"Uhh, thanks. We'll make sure to come by. And she's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say."

Telma ran to Renado and the two entered the stone house. Sam turned to where he'd left Lara sitting on Epona and groaned when he saw Lara had gone again.

"She's run off again!" he growled. "Where'd she go now?"

He noticed boot prints in the dirt path, leading to the graveyard. He ran after the trail, through the small canyon and into a clearing.

* * *

**There'll be another update tomorrow, keep a look out for it.**


	28. Into the Lakebed Temple

Dark gravestones stood all around the clearing. A short staircase lead up to a higher level in the cliffs, where a tunnel led into the cliffside.

The boot prints led right to the tunnel. Sam crawled through the tunnel and came out into a large cavern. A pool of water stood between him and a tall gravestone.

The gravestone had been pulled back. Sitting on the floor infront of Sam was a suit of blue armor, blue flippers and a tan helmet.

Lara came out from behind the gravestone. She was wearing a second suit of the blue armor and flippers, but no helmet.

"Oh, hey," she said. "Uhh...Surprise?"

"I told you to stay on Epona!" Sam growled.

"Sorry, but if I didn't follow Rutela when she appeared, we wouldn't even be able to get in here!"

"What's that armor you're wearing?"

"Zora Armor. It's like the Zora Tunic from Ocarina of Time, except it's armor."

"Oh...Okay I can forgive you for running off again, but please don't do it again. You're gonna drive my crazy if you keep it up."

"I'll try not to do it again, but I can't promise anything. Get that suit on, the faster we can get off to the Lakebed Temple, the better."

"Lakebed Temple? You mean it's underwater?"

"Just like in Ocarina of Time."

"But what about my hearing aid? It'll be destroyed if I take it into the water."

"That's one of the great uses of that helmet. It protects your ears to keep out any bacteria. It'll close around your ears and make an air pocket so you can hear underwater."

"That's helpful. Is there another outfit? Like the Goron Tunic?"

"There's something called Magic Armor, but it's rather pointless."

"Okay...How exactly do I breath underwater?"

"There's a mask that comes out from the helmet. It also makes an air pocket to supply you with fresh air. And the mask also keeps out toxic gases and other such poison."

"Hmm."

"I'll be walking around the bottom of pool. If you see an explosion, it's just me."

"Alright, be careful."

* * *

Lara dived into the water and swam to the bottom of the pool. She didn't have a helmet, but she had a mask to give her air. Sam quickly changed into the armor. 

It was surprisingly light and easy to move around in. Sam put the green tunic into his bag and made sure the bag was tied shut. He placed the helmet on his head and felt it surround his ears to protect them from the water.

He pulled a mask out from the helmet. It wasn't so much of a mask, more of a mouthpiece. He placed it over his mouth and nose and tied it so it wouldn't come loose in the water.

He jumped into the water and swam down to the bottom. He could hear everything, though the mask kept him from talking. Lara swam over to him, grabbed his hands and placed them over his ears.

There was a flash of light, which blinded Sam for a moment. Once his vision had clear up again, he found that there was a large cave leading away from the cavern.

Lara let Sam's hands go, then she slipped on her Iron Boots. The boots weighed her down, but she was able to walk easily along the floor.

_'Come on,'_ she signed. Sign language was the only way they could communicate under water. _'It's a shortcut to Lake Hylia.'_

_'Don't we need any sort of equipment?'_ Sam signed back. _'I mean, if the enterance to the temple is blocked, we'd need some sort of tool, right?'_

_'That's where the Water Bombs come in.'_

_'Water Bombs?'_

_'I'll show you once we get to the temple.'_

* * *

Sam put on his own Iron Boots and followed after Lara into the tunnel. It only seemed like they'd been walking for a few minutes when a rush of water came from behind them and shot them into Lake Hylia. 

Lara led the way to the deepest part of the lake. It wasn't long until they came to the place. There were five or six Zora swimming around the area.

_'They're searching for the three missing Zora,'_ Lara explained. _'They went missing shortly after the Twilight took over. They were trapped inside the Lakebed Temple.'_

She pushed herself off and fell a short way to land below the cliff. Sam came right after her, keeping an eye out for any danger.

Lara motioned for Sam to move back. He took a few steps away from the cliff. Lara took off her Iron Boots, swam up to a large boulder stuck in the cliff, and forced a fish-shaped bomb into a small space between the rocks.

The bomb began to flash red, slow at first but it began to flash faster. Lara swam away from the cliff. The bomb exploded, crumbling the boulder to pieces.

Sam took off his Iron Boots, placed them in his bag and swam up to the cave that had appeared. Lara came up beside him. She seemed sure of herself, this must've been the enterance to the Lakebed Temple--or at least close to it.

_'How're we supposed to see in there without any light?'_ Sam signed.

_'We don't,'_ Lara replied._ 'We're going to have to rely on my memories.'_

_'What if we lose each other?'_

_'We won't.'_ Lara grabbed Sam's hand. _'Just don't let go.'_

Lara motioned towards the darkness of the cave. Sam sighed, which gave out some bubbles from his mask. In they went, into the Lakebed Temple.

* * *

**Ferrion: And there you have it people, but there's not gonna be many updates this week, I'm sick and I gotta get caught up with my schoolwork-  
**

**Raxal: Oh gosh! I'm gone for just a week and you go run off and get sick!  
**

**Ferrion: Ahh, back from your visit with the Grim Reaper already?**

**Raxal: No thanks to you...what the heck is this?**

**Ferrion: Put the book down...**

**Raxal: Never! I'm holding this book hostage for my own freedom!!! **

**Ferrion: I'll be sending you back to the Grim Reaper in the morning! Anyhow, as I was saying, I'm sick and I gotta catch up with my school. So, there might be an update next Saturday but I have no idea.  
**


	29. A Sweet Moment

Sam could see the dark outlines of the cavern walls, floor and ceiling but that was it. He swam along side Lara, keeping a tight hold on her hand. She was sure of herself and knew where they were going.

They turned a corner to a dead end. Lara motioned for Sam to look up. At least fifty feet above them was light, the first chamber of the temple.

Between them and the light were two glowing Bari. Every few seconds they'd surround themselves in blue sparks. Lara let go of Sam's hand and began to sign.

_'We have to swim up there,'_ she signed. _'Avoid the Bari, they'll paralyze you for a few minutes if you're caught by one of them.'_

Sam nodded. They began to swim up the tunnel, moving slowly so they didn't attract any attention from the Bari. Sam had past the Bari on the left side of the cave and was almost out of the tunnel when he felt something grab his foot.

He whirled around to see the Bari had reached out with one of it's tentacles and grabbed hold of Sam's foot. Sam tried to pull his foot free, but the Bari squeezed tighter.

Blue sparks began to spark up around the creature. Pain shot up from Sam's foot and through his whole body. It was brief, but the shock at left Sam paralyzed, blind and completely deaf.

* * *

He felt the other tentacle wrap around his arm and begin to pull him down again. The Bari suddenly released him and he felt something else, a pair of hands, wrap themselves around his chest and began to pull him up to the surface.

Before he'd even felt the strong rush of air, he lost all feeling, though he knew he was still awake. He had no idea how long he had no feeling, but after a while he began to gain control again.

Sam opened his eyes. His vision was a bit blurred but he could tell he was in a cavern. His legs were numb but he was starting to feel his body from the waist up.

His helmet had been removed, along with the breathing mask. He turned his head to see Lara sitting a little farther away. His vision was clearing up well enough to see Lara's eyes were glazed over.

He pushed himself up and dragged himself over to where Lara was. She didn't blink, even when he waved a hand infront of her face.

'Weird...' Sam thought. 'She's breathing, so she's not dead...Maybe she's in a trance.'

He held his hand infront of her face and snapped his fingers twice. At once Lara came back to life. She blinked a few times then looked at Sam.

"Hey," she said. "You okay? You took a big shock from the Bari."

"I was more concerned about you," Sam replied.

"Hmm? What for?"

"You were in a trance just now."

Lara looked down at the ground and didn't say anything in responce.

"You saw something, didn't you?" Sam asked. Lara nodded. "You wanna talk about it?"

* * *

Lara burst into tears. Sam hesitated, not sure what to do. Then he moved around and leaned against the wall. He pulled Lara back and let her lay on his arm. Lara let her head fall back and rest on his shoulder.

"Zant's done something back home," Lara coughed. "I don't know what he did, but something's happened."

"It'll be okay," Sam reassured. "It might've just been Zant messing with your head, trying to get you to lose focus."

"Maybe..."

She wiped her eyes a few times, then stopped when she realized the tears weren't going to stop so soon.

They sat in silence for a while. The only sound was the soft beating of the pool in the center of the room. Sam noticed a difference in Lara's breathing, it was no longer quick and raspy, but slow and calm.

He looked at her and found she'd cried herself to sleep. Sam could feel a chilly breeze coming from deeper inside the temple. He couldn't feel it completely, but he knew Lara could and he saw she was shaking.

Sam reached into his bag and pulled out the cloak Lara had given him. He drapped it over her, making sure she wouldn't freeze.

He didn't dare move, he didn't want to wake Lara. He decided it'd do him some good to sleep as well, since there was a whole temple to search for the last Fused Shadow.

He leaned his head lightly on Lara's own head and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to sleep. Though his mind was buzzing with questions.

Why had they been brought here? What was Midna? Who did she work for? What was Zant planning to do with Lara when he'd taken her? What were the Fused Shadows and why did Midna want them so badly?

Sam would've asked Midna some of those questions, but he knew she'd never give him a straight answer. That's always how it seemed to be with the companions of the Zelda games--the companion _always_ had something to hide.

Sleep finally took over Sam, dropping his mind out of the world.


	30. Determination to Keep Safe

A dark endless street, bright street lamps, tall buildings. Sam knew this was all a dream, but he was home again. It didn't matter to him so much that he'd wake up and leave this image, he was just glad to be able to see it again. 

But as he looked around, he realized someting was wrong. No one was walking along the streets, none of the shops were open, it was like a ghost town.

He began to walk down the street, trying to figure out what was going on. He took a few steps then stopped-something was following him.

He whirled around, but saw nothing.

"Just my imagination," he muttered.

He turned around again and gasped. Zombies-hundreds of them-had appeared out of nowhere. He turned to run the other way, but he'd been surrounded, no way out.

A wave of red blood swept over the street, taking away whatever was in it's path. Sam was choking in the thick liquid, drowning.

* * *

Sam jolted awake. He looked around for a moment and sighed in relief. Nothing had happened while he slept, other than the torches along the walls had grown brighter.

It must've been night outside the temple by this time. Sam turned to look at Lara, she was still asleep. He'd have let her sleep, but they had to get going.

"Lara," he said. He shook her slightly, which woke her up.

"Hmm? What?"

"You need to get up."

"Oh...I fell asleep."

"Yeah."

Lara moved over enough for Sam to stand up. His body had completely recovered by now, so he could move freely. As Lara stood up, there was a sharp snap and she fell back to the ground.

"Lara!" Sam exclaimed. He knelt beside her. "What's wrong?"

"Dangit!" Lara growled. "I think my ankle popped out of place."

"Let me see."

Lara pulled her legs around to where Sam could easily see her ankles. Neither was swollen, but when he pressed down on the left one, Lara yelped in pain.

* * *

"It's either broken or it's popped out of place," Sam confirmed. "I don't know if I can do anything for it."

"There's not to be done for it," Lara sighed. "I should stay off of it, but that'll mean I can't really walk."

"You can swim, right?"

"I suppose."

"Then get out of here and stay at the healing spring, the water may be able to heal your ankle."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be alright. I got through the Goron Mines by myself, didn't I?"

"The Lakebed Temple is worse than the Water Temple was."

"The Water Temple was easy to figure out, this one shouldn't be any harder."

"...Okay, but if my ankle heals quickly, I'm coming back."

"No, stay there."

"But, Sam-"

"Stay there."

Lara didn't reply to that. She looked in his eyes for a long moment then looked away again. Sam knew he'd gone too far in demanding Lara to stay away.

"I'm sorry," he sighed. "I just don't want to see you get hurt again. Please, stay at the healing spring."

"I understand," Lara replied. "But what if _you_ got hurt and I wasn't around? What would you do then?"

"Well...I'm not sure what I'd do. But I'd feel better if I knew you were safe."

Lara nodded and pulled her breathing mask from her bag. She tied it in place and made sure it was going to stay in place.

_'Just don't get into trouble,' _she signed.

"I won't."

Sam helped her limp to the edge of the pool. Lara pulled the Hylian Shield and the quiver of arrows off her back and placed them on the floor.

She slipped into the water and after a quick wave to Sam, she vanished under the water.

Sam picked up the shield and quiver, latched them onto his back and turned towards the large steel door that led into the temple.

* * *

**Ferrion: It's offical! I'm done with school! Well...not completely. I still have to do a final draft on my paper, but I'm ALMOST done!! So there'll be more updates! But I'll be gone for a week in June and 2 weeks in July, but I'll be writing even then, for I'll take an empty notebook with me! MUWHAHAHAAHA!**

**Vampyer: Ferrion, you're using the evil laugh again...  
**

**Ferrion: What? Oh, sorry.**

**Vampyer: It's okay. Just stop it, it's freaking me out.**

**Ferrion: Okay. Anyhow, more updates are coming. Keep a look out for them!**


	31. Lakebed Temple, Part 1

Sam thought the Lakebed Temple wasn't going to be as hard as the Water Temple had been. But he soon found out that it was worse, much worse.

Twisting corridors, endless pits, man-eating mummified fish and an endless amount of water.

"This is gonna take forever," he sighed. He'd stopped to rest after he had run up and down the same staircase for the twenty-fifth time. "Having a map would help alot. Having a guide would be better..."

"Mr. Sam! What a pleasant surprise in running into you again!"

Sam looked up. Sitting a few feet away from him was a familiar chicken with a human head.

"Ooccoo!" Sam sighed. "What're you doing here?"

"Exploring. But I believe it is more of question of you being here."

"I'm looking for another piece of the black helmet. Have you seen it?"

"Oh yes, I see alot of stuff for being so small. I've even seen another treasure: a claw!"

"A claw?"

"Yes, well...two claws, but claws none the less!"

"What about a key? A large, black key."

"Yes, I've seen that too!"

"Can you show me where they all are?"

"Of course! Follow me!"

* * *

"Behind that door?" Sam asked. "You sure?"

"Sure as feathers!" Ooccoo replied. "The door is locked from the other side though, you'll have to take the other way around."

Ooccoo walked down the hallway, Sam followed right after her. They came to the end of the corridor to a deep pool of dark water.

"That's the only way into that room," Ooccoo said.

"Alright," Sam sighed. "You stay at the door, I'll be there in a few minutes."

Sam tied his mask in place and dived into the pool. Along the bottom of the pool the sand glowed blue, giving light to the tunnel.

He swam along the underwater corridor and kept looking from side to side for any monsters that might attack him. The tunnel sloped upwards, Sam followed it up to the top into a large room.

About two feet of water was on the stone floor. Sam pulled himself out of the hole and walked a little farther into the room. He was about three yards from the tunnel, when a solid slab of stone rolled over it, locking Sam inside.

There was a small splash. Sam looked around. Three large tadpoles-each the size of a miniature poodle-were swimming towards him. Sam noticed that their tails were spiked with razor sharp thorns.

He drew out his sword and killed the tadpoles with one swipe. He looked up towards the ceiling. A giant frog, the size of an elephant, was hanging up-side-down on the ceiling.

The frog leaped down from the ceiling and splashed down into the water, just a few feet away from Sam. Twenty more tadpoles fell out from the ceiling as well and started swimming towards him.

* * *

"Die already!" Sam yelled. He had lost count of how many times he'd attacked the frog, but he knew it was somewhere after seven times.

He slashed the sword one last time into the creature's side. That did it. The frog fell to the ground and stopped moving. It vanished a blast of black-purple smoke, leaving behind a large treasure chest.

Sam put his weapon away and walked over to the chest. He opened it and inside he found two iron gloves. Both were painted light brown, had a claw at one end and were left handed gloves.

"Clawshot," he said. He had no idea what it was really called, but that was the first thing that came to mind. "Now to get out of here."

The path through the tunnel was blocked. Only way out was the door way higher up from him. Some vines grew along the ceiling of the small tunnel where the door was.

Sam put one of the gloves into his bag and slipped the other onto his right hand. He aimed for the vines and pulled the trigger inside the glove.

The claw flew towards the vines, taking a long chain with it. The claw latched to some vines and the glove itself began to pulled the chain in very quickly.

The claw refused to let go of the vines, so the glove went to it. The claw and glove came in place together again and Sam had to grab a hold of the vines to keep from falling on the stone below.

He dropped down and entered through the door into the hallway. Ooccoo was waiting for him, just like she said she would.

"Find the claws?" she asked.

"Yeah, pretty helpful tools," Sam replied. "Let's get going."


	32. Lakebed Temple, Part 2

Sam stopped in his tracks. Something was wrong, he knew it. He could feel it. Something dark was coming, but he didn't know what it was. 

"Mr. Sam?" Ooccoo asked. "You okay?"

"I'm not sure," Sam replied. He shook his head slightly. "Probably just my imagination. You're leaving, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright, take care."

"You too."

Ooccoo flew up to the ceiling of the large room and vanished into a large crack. Sam looked back to the unlocked door. It was the room that led to the boss battle.

He opened the door and took a few steps inside. He had expected there to be an elevator going down into the last room, but he was wrong. The floor vanished and Sam cried out as he fell into a large hole.

He fell a long way, but at least half of the tunnel was filled with water. He hit the water with a loud splash that echoed through the hole.

Sam came up from the water, gasping for breath. He looked above to see a small dot of light high overhead. The walls were too slick for him to climb back up.

"No turning back now," he growled. He put on his breathing mask and the Iron Boots, allowing the boots to take him under the water.

He sank into a large chamber. A strange glow emanated from the walls and the sand covered floor. He landed in the sand, about a yard away from a drop in the center of the room.

The floor shook, but Sam kept up on his feet. From the downward slope in the floor, a creature shot out from the sand. Glowing tentacles lashed out and sent Sam flying into the far wall.

Sam got up from the floor and watched the creature. A ball of red goo was running up inside the tentacles. Sam remembered where he'd seen this before, it was like the boss battle in the Water Temple against Morpha.

He knew exactly what to do. He reached into his bag and pulled out one of the Clawshots. Sam slipped his left hand into it and held his sword in his right hand.

Sam walked closer to the creature, it had only come out a small way from the sand, but he could see it's mouth with three rows of razor sharp teeth.

He was close enough for the Clawshot to reach three of the tentacles. The red ball of goo floated into view, in range of the Clawshot.

Sam pulled the trigger in the glove, sending the claw and a long chain flying towards the goo. He got it! The goo came towards him, Sam was ready to attack it.

Soon as the Clawshot was loaded again, it released the goo. Sam slashed it with his sword, killing it at once.

'No, it can't be that easy,' Sam thought to himself. 'Nothing is ever that easy.'

* * *

Sure enough, the creature launched itself from the sand. Sam could see now exactly what the creature was. It was a large fish, at least six times bigger than Sam was.

A second ball of goo was set into the creature's face. It was an eye, the only thing that allowed the creature to keep fighting. Sam had to destroy the other eye, that was the only way to finish the battle.

Sam tapped his foot and the Iron Boots vanished. He swam up and aimed the Clawshot for the monster's remaining eye. The claw and chain flew out and stuck into the eye.

The Clawshot was so far in, it couldn't come back with the eye, but it started a pull the chain back in. Of course, that meant Sam was flying right at the eye, giving him a perfect chance to stab it with his sword.

What he hadn't expected was one of the tentacles to lash out and grab him. It began to squeeze him, slowly suffocating him. He couldn't cry out. He knew no one would be able to hear him even if there was someone near by.

Suddenly the pressure was released, the tentacle let go of him. Sam caught his breath while something---or someone attacked the giant fish.

He looked around. The fish had swam away to the other side of the chamber. Sam felt something grab his shoulder. He whirled around to see Lara.

_'What're you doing here?!' _Sam signed. _'I told you to stay at the healing spring.'_

_'I couldn't leave you here to fight Morpheel alone,'_ Lara replied. _'Besides, you look like you could use some help.'_

Sam sighed. True it would be good to have some help, but he didn't want Lara to get hurt.

_'Don't worry,'_ Lara replied almost as if she'd read his mind._ 'I won't get hurt.'_

Sam pulled out the second Clawshot and handed it to Lara. She slipped it onto her hand and bolted towards Morpheel before Sam could stop her.

Morpheel was coming right towards them, sucking in water through it's mouth. Lara tapped her feet together and the Iron Boots appeared on her feet. She aimed for the eye and the claw shot out and stuck into it.

The Clawshot drew Lara to the eye and she stabbed it a few times with one of her daggers. The Iron Boots vanished and she kicked off and away from Morpheel.

The giant fish whirled around wildy with it's blindness and crushed into the bottom of the wall. A large crack in the wall began to suck out the water, leaving the room with nothing but damp sand.

Morpheel burst into a black cloud and the final Fused Shadow fell onto the ground infront of Sam.

"Midna," Lara said once she'd gotten her mask off. "We're done."

Midna didn't appear.

"Midna?"

"Don't worry about her right now," Sam said. "You can touch it, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Lara walked over, bent down and picked it up with her right hand. She yelped and dropped it the metal at once.

"You okay?" Sam asked. He kneeled down beside her. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," Lara replied. She looked at her hand, it had turned jet black. "It burned me."

"Doesn't look like a normal burn."

"No...more like dark magic."

"Dark magic?"

"The magic of the Twili. Near impossible to counter act."

"Well, there's a way right?"

"Yeah."

"Then we'll get it fixed and get on our way. Can you make a portal?"

Lara pulled out a match, lit it and dropped it on the damp sand. The small flame turned the match black, then the upward burst of black flames shot up.

* * *

"We're going to the Lanayru Healing Spring," Lara explained.

"Lara,"

"Hmm?"

Sam took Lara's breathing mask, placed it over her nose and mouth and tied it in place.

"Keep it on."

_'Why?'_ Lara signed.

"Just to be safe."

Lara shrugged, then took out a large cloth and picked up the Fused Shadow. They walked through the fiery portal and entered onto the cliff above the Lanayru Healing Spring.

They turned to leave. Sam heard Lara gasp. Standing in their path was the man with the pointed metal mask. Zant.

Sam had no time to react. The spirit of light, Lanayru, shot out of the water in order to protect the two teens. But Zant's magic was too strong.

Lanayru faded into darkness, the light was gone as well. There was a blast which knocked Sam to the ground. He heard a thud beside him, Lara had also been hit.

Sam could feel something happening inside him. His entire skeleton was being torn apart, bone by bone. Something hard hit the back of his head, throwing him into darkness.

Just before he passed out, he heard someone being choked.

'No!' Sam thought with the last of his brain power. 'I'm too late...'


	33. A Curse and the Secret Forest

Sam opened his eyes. He was lying on his side, facing the dull white walls of Hyrule Castle Town. He pushed himself up and after a quick look over himself, he found he'd been turned into a wolf again.

His head was throbbing, but that didn't matter to him. He smelled the air, trying to pick up Lara's scent. He caught a trace of something, the smell of honey...and blood.

Sam switched his vision and found a gold-orange trail leading across the field to the other side of the river. He raced after it, over the bridge and to the bank of the river.

The trail stopped at the bank, not going in the water but not going in a different direction either. Sam brought his vision to normal again.

"Weird...Why's her scent lead--" he began to say out loud. "Oh no!"

Just a few feet away from him was Lara's limp body. She was lying face down on the sandy shore. She didn't move.

Sam grabbed the neck of her armor with his teeth and pulled her away from the river. He pushed her over so she was lying on her back.

Sam knelt down and placed his head on her chest. There was a steady heartbeat and long shallow breathes, she was alive.

He stood up again and quickly examined her. The armor from her left arm had been shattered to bits and was bloody. Her breathing mask hung around her neck and blood dripped from her mouth. Other than that it seemed like she'd been unharmed.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do, so he tried to wake Lara. He lightly bumped her head with his muzzle. There was no response.

"Come on," he sighed. "If I were human right now, I'd give you the kiss of life and I bet that wouldn't work!"

Still no response. Sam bumped her again, a little harder than the first time. Lara slowly opened her eyes. She looked up towards the sky at first, then turned her head to look at Sam.

"You okay?" she coughed.

"I'm fine, it's you who has the problem."

Lara sat up and wiped the blood from her mouth. She looked at her left arm and began to pull off the shattered metal. Under the armor, her skin was jet black with an odd design drawn in red.

* * *

"Dangit!" she growled. "The curse is spreading again."

"The curse?" Sam asked. "What curse?"

"Zant cursed me when he first captured me. It allowed me to walk through the Twilight without chaging form. But as a result, whenever I tried to escape from the castle, the curse would spread."

"What'll it do to you? Do you know?"

"It'll turn my mind off...completely under Zant's control."

"But why would he curse you?"

"He needed someone to be the host for the resurrection of his sister, who'd become the next Twilight Princess. While Zant is the Twilight King, his sister would take the place of the true princess."

"Who's the real princess?"

"She was also cursed, but in a different way. She ran away from Zant to find a way to gain her throne back. Her name is Midna."

"Midna?! Midna is the Princess?!"

"For now at least. Zant placed another spell on her, turning her mind off and giving him complete control over her."

"He has to get rid of her for the throne."

"Yes. But there is a ritual to be done to bring back Zant's sister. The blood of two princesses, the body of light and the soul of courage."

"Two princesses? Midna and Zelda?"

"Right."

"But what about the body of light the soul of courage?"

"That should be easy enough to figure out...Think about it, who was kidnapped and brought to this world?"

"We were, but...Oh, crap."

"You see it now? It's us. I'm the body of light, you're the soul of courage."

"But why us? Why not two other people?"

"From what I'm guessing, there was no one to take either place. Zant came to our world, found me, took me here and looked through my memories where he found you."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Zant told me, just a little while ago..."

"The curse, is there anyway to hold it off?"

"Not that I know of. But so long as we don't run into Zant for a while, I don't think the curse will spread any farther than it already has."

"Can you stand? We gotta find somewhere to hide."

"Yeah, I think I can get up. We're going to Faron Woods."

"All that way? What for?"

"To get you back to normal."

Lara stood up and at once lost her balance. Sam whirled around and caught her before she hit the ground. 

"Maybe you should ride on Epona," he said. "Do you want me to call her?"

"No, there's no point." Lara pulled out her staff. "Once we go into the forest, Epona won't be able to follow us."

"Think you can walk all that way?"

"Who said we were walking? We're warping there."

Lara pulled something from her bag. She held it in her left hand and smashed it down onto the ground. There was a flash of red light and once it had died away, Sam found they were standing in northern Faron Woods.

* * *

They walked to the clearing north of them. The Forest Temple stood tall and glowed in the moonlight. There was a scream. The female white monkey was climbing out from around the cliff to the right of the clearing.

She jumped down and ran towards them, but was surrounded by four gray-green puppets with red eyes. There weren't any strings for the puppets, it was almost like they were being controled with the wind.

Sam leaped at one of the puppets and ripped it's head off. Another puppet lashed out at him, but Sam was faster. He dodged the attack and smashed the wooden figure into the ground, shattering it to pieces.

He whirled around to see Lara whack one of other puppets to pieces with her staff. The last was behind her, about to strike. Lara had guessed the attack though.

She leaped forward and at the same time turned around to face the puppet. It rushed towards her, but she knew what it was planning. She brought her staff up and stabbed the puppet through it's soild wood head.

All the puppets vanished in four blasts of black smoke. The female monkey looked at Sam, then at Lara and back again.

"Did you save me?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"You seem familiar, so does this human."

"What were you doing on the cliff?"

"Oh, there's this wonderful forest grove on the other side of the cliff! I was going over there to climb it's large trees when those creatures attacked me."

"Well, stay over here. We'll check it out."

"What's in that grove anyways?"

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out."

"Thanks for helping me, see ya around!"

The monkey ran off into the Forest Temple.

"Okay," Sam said. He turned back to Lara. "According to the monkey-"

"There's a grove on the other side of the cliff," Lara cut him off. "You don't have to tell me, I heard it before."

Lara led the way to a broken wooden bridge that went around the cliff to the otehr side. They quickly crossed the bridge and continued along a trail leading through a small canyon.


	34. The Master Sword in the Sacred Grove

At the end of the canyon, the path vanished into a thick forest. The trees were tall, their leaves glowed blue in the moon light. Fireflies flew all through the forest.

"What's in there?" Sam asked.

"That's the Sacred Grove," Lara explained. "It was once called the Sacred Forest Meadow."

"It's changed."

"You have no idea."

They walked into the forest. After a few moments, they came to a large clearing. A gray stone stood to the side of the path.

Sam walked up to the stone and perked up his ears to listen. The stone was humming a short melody, a lullaby. It was slow, almost like it were some sort of an enchantment.

He listened to it for a few moments then tilted his head back slightly and repeated the notes in his deep howl.

_Clink, clink_

Sam stood up and whirled around. A short child stood before them. He wore a red pointed hat, red tunic and boots. In one hand was a lantern, in the other was a small horn.

His face was blue, eyes were red and he had a wide grin across his face, showing his sharp pointed teeth.

The child ran off down the path, deeper into the Sacred Grove.

"That's Skull Kid," Lara explained. "He'll lead us through the forest."

They ran after the ghostly child. For being so small, he was very quick and once or twice they lost sight of him in the trees.

The trees grew thinner the farther they went. Eventually, they entered on the top of a cliff. Below them were small piles of rock. A vine grew down the cliff.

"You'll have to jump down," Lara said. "There's no way you can climb the vines."

"Don't fall," Sam replied.

He jumped down into the clearing and waited for Lara to join him. They walked closer to the center and tallest of the rock piles. Skull Kid stood on top of it, looking down at them.

"You must really want to know what's here," he laughed. "Too bad! I won't let you go farther unless you play with me!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Lara sighed. "We just ran at least half a mile to get here and now you wanna play games?!"

"Yup!"

"Stupid kid...Fine, what'd you wanna play?"

"Tag!"

"Oh, joy..."

"Catch me if you can!"

* * *

It took them an hour or so to catch the forest child. He was alot faster than the two of them were, but the had cornered him against a wall.

"Would you kindly let us through now?!" Lara exclaimed.

"I suppose..." Skull Kid sighed.

"Thank you!"

Skull Kid vanished. The solid stone wall faded away, opening the path forward. They walked down the path, through a stone hallway and into another clearing.

They stood in what seemed to be the ruins of a castle or a church. Two stone statues stood near the door to the right of the clearing.

To the left was a broken staircase, most of it was crushed by fallen rocks.

"What're these ruins?" Sam asked.

"The ruins of the Temple of Time," Lara replied.

"Which Temple of Time?"

"This would be the one after 'A Link to the Past'."

"So, where's the sword?"

"Past that door."

Lara pointed towards the door to the right of the clearing. They walked towards it and stopped. Painted on the floor below them was the symbol of the Triforce.

* * *

Once again, Sam howled the short lullaby. The stone wall behind the statues crumbled to pieces, opening the path forward.

"Was it supposed to be that easy?" he asked.

"No," Lara growled.

They began to climb up the staircase.They came to the top of the stairs and found they were standing in a large clearing. In the center of the grassy area was a stone pedestal.

Stuck into the pedestal was a blue hilted, white bladed sword. Sam knew at once that this was the Master Sword, the strongest weapon in most of the Zelda games.

He took a step forward, but Lara held a hand out infront of him to stop him.

"Something's wrong," she said. "Something's here, I can feel it."

Lara walked forward and held her left arm out. She went all the way to the pedestal without finding any dangers.

"You sure something's wrong?" Sam asked. He walked up to her and stood infront of the pedestal. "I don't sense any-whoa!"

A blast of light and wind shot out from the sword, knocking Lara back a few feet. Sam kept his footing and once again felt the jumble of bones in his skeleton.

Just a moment later, the light had faded and the wind was gone, Sam looked over himself. He was human again.

"Of course," she sighed. "Just like in the game."

"Hmm?"

Lara held up a black and red stone. "This was the item that held you in the wolf form. Though I have no idea how it got into you, since you were unconscious for the whole time."

"What exactly happened?"

"The Master Sword is made completely from the power of light. It can cure any curse, kill any creature and smite any evil made from darkness."

"Cure any curse...Think we could use it with that curse Zant placed on you?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, trying is the only way to find out."

* * *

Lara stepped up to the pedestal and reached out with her left hand to grab the hilt of the sword. Before her hand even touched it, a bright spark shot out from the hilt.

The spark was so strong and sudden that Lara was thrown into the far stone wall.

"You okay?" Sam asked. He ran over and helped her up.

"Y-yeah," Lara gasped. "Knocked the wind outta me, that's all."

"What did it do?"

"It refuses to have anyone but the chosen hero touch it. If I remember correctly, you were named as the chosen hero, weren't you?"

"Are you saying I should try to pull out the sword?"

"Worth a shot."

Sam walked over to stand infront of the pedestal. He took hold of the hilt in both hands and pulled up on the handle. The sword came out easily.

He held the sword for a moment, then looked back at the pedestal.

"Uhh...Lara, you might wanna come look at this!" he exclaimed.

Lara came over to see what he was looking at. She gasped when she saw it as well. A black bladed, red hilted sword now took the place in the pedestal.

"Oh, no..." Lara sighed. "We've got to pull it out!"

"Huh? Why?"

"That's one of the other swords I created in one of my stories! It belongs to a half-vampire who tried to kill the main character. If his sword is here, Zant must've looked farther into my memories than I thought!"

"What're you saying?"

"I'm saying we might have a half-vampire on the loose!"

* * *

**Ferrion: And this people, is where I must leave for a short time. I'm still trying to recover from nearly breaking my tail bone when I fell out of my chair, and I got camp in a week and if I'm not fully recovered, I won't be able to go. So, yeah, I gotta stop with updates for a few weeks, sorry!**

**Vampyer: You could always let me do the updating, you know.**

**Ferrion: No, you might mess up something and I'll have to kill someone when I get back. Not a nice thing to do. Anyhow, sorry for the very large delay of updates, but I promise, when I get back there'll be 5-7 new chapters up! See ya'll later!**


	35. Half Vampire, Half Elf

"Is this your attempt at a joke?"

"I am not joking!"

"I just find it hard to believe a _vampire_ might be in Hyrule."

"Well, I find it hard to believe that either of _us_ are in Hyrule, but we are!"

"So, who's pulling out the sword?"

"I will."

Sam stepped back and let Lara stand infront of the pedestal. She grabbed hold of the hilt in both hands and pulled up. The sword came out just as easily as the Master Sword had. Lara looked over every inch of the blade.

"It's not glowing," she sighed. "But the tip of the blade has blood on it."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Sam asked.

"The blood shows that the vampire is awake and is searching for victims. But since the sword isn't glowing, he's got no magic power."

"He's a magical vampire?"

"No, he's half-vampire and half-elf."

"What kind of story is that for a half-vampire half-elf to kill the main character?"

"I wrote it when I was twelve, don't ask. In any case, he is out there and he is looking for blood."

"We're safe during the day though, right?"

"No, the elf blood in him keeps him from falling to his vampire weaknesses."

"So, sun light and garlic don't do anything?"

"Nope."

"That might prove as a problem for my vampire slaying skills."

"You've only slane one vampire ever, and that was on a video game."

"But it was a vampire."

"Okay, okay, regardless of you killing a vampire or not, it doesn't help us now!"

"What about a wooden pike into his heart, won't that work?"

"That's just about the only thing that might work, but I doubt it will if he gains his magic."

"How can he do that?"

"Well, in this world there're only a few ways. He could take the power from one of the light spirits, but none of them will come out again for a while."

"He could try to find the Fused Shadow pieces, but Zant has them and he's not giving them up to anyone." she continued. "And then there's the Triforce...That's it!"

"Huh?" Sam asked. "What's it?"

"That's what Zant is doing! Zant brought my creation to life to find the Triforce of Courage!"

"But how would a vampire find it?"

"Vampires can sense things humans can't. Since he's vampire and elf, he has the ability to sense great magic as well as victims."

"If he can find the last piece of the Triforce, then Zant will get it!"

"Exactly."

"So, we'll just have to get it first."

"If we can find it. I'm not even sure someone has it, or if it's been shattered again like it was in Wind Waker."

"What do we need to do now?"

"We need to go to Hyrule Castle Town and speak with Telma and her friends."

"What about the guards?"

"By this time they've become so paranoid they can't do much of anything except walking. Besides it wouldn't be the best idea to split up if there's a chance of meeting Seth."

"Seth?"

"The vampire."

"Oh."

"We should take the black sword with us, it won't do any good if Seth got his hands on it."

"Alright."

Lara held out the black and red stone to Sam. He looked at it for a moment then looked at Lara.

"This isn't gonna make me pass out, is it?" he asked.

"No, it won't," she replied.

Sam placed a hand on the stone and at a few seconds later, he was a wolf again. Lara put the stone into her bag and pulled out a black marble.

She smashed it onto the ground, making a loud snap as the glass shattered on the stone floor. They were standing near the wooden draw bridge into Hyrule Castle Town.

"Okay, first we find out where to go," Lara said. "Then we'll get supplies."

"Right." Sam changed back into his human form, though he had no idea how he managed to do it.

* * *

They walked into the town. It was early morning, so not many people were out yet. The sky was dull pink and yellow with the first light of day.

They walked down the south road, past the market stalls and down the alleyway to Telma's bar. Like Lara had said, the guards didn't do much except walk and talk.

They entered into a building. A fire crackled in the fireplace where a few pieces of cinnamon sticks had been placed to give the whole room the spicey smell.

Telma stood behind the counter, talking to three other people. A red haired man with glasses, a black haired girl and another man who had a helmet on to hide his face.

"Oh!" Telma exclaimed when she noticed the two teens. "Sam, Lara, how've you been doing?"

"Pretty good," Sam replied. "Do you have anything that doesn't have alcohol in it?"

"Maybe, let me check the back room."

Telma went through a wooden red door and closed it behind her.

"So, you're Sam?" the red haired man asked. "I'm Shad, I'm a scholar."

"Ashei," the girl said. Sam guessed that was her name.

The third man didn't say anything, he didn't seem to be very welcoming of two teenagers.

"Isn't there another person in your group?" Lara asked. "An older man?"

"Yes, that'd be Auru," Shad said. "Have you met him before?"

"No, I've seen him around from time to time."

"Well, he's off near Lake Hylia investigating the desert."

"The desert?" Sam asked.

"The Gerudo Desert," Lara explained. "It sits above Lake Hylia, on the east cliff."

"How big is this desert?"

"Oh, fairly big. Maybe twice the size of Lake Hylia."

"In any case," Shad said. "You might want to go meet with him. He could use some help in his investigation, I'm sure."

"Up to the challange, Sam?"

"Sure," Sam replied.

"Okay, we'll go and help Auru."

"Great!" Shad exclaimed.

"Here you go," Telma said. She came out of the back room and placed to small mugs on the counter. "Cold milk, only thing I got. It's on the house this time."

"Thanks," Sam said. He picked up both mugs and handed one to Lara.

* * *

The adults went on talking, forgetting about the two teens. They sat down at a table in the far corner of the room where they couldn't be heard over.

"You didn't tell me anything about walking in a desert," Sam growled.

"You'd have said no before I had even finished explaining!" Lara replied.

"Maybe."

"If I'd told you what we had to do and you'd said no, then I'd have to go and do it by myself!"

"What? Why?"

"There's an old prison in the northern part of the desert. There was a mirror kept there called the Mirror of Twilight. It's the only way into the Twilight Realm and it might be our only way home."

"Are you serious?"

"Of course! Why would I get your hopes up if I weren't being serious?"

"Then let's get going!"

They finished their milk, said a quick good-bye to the others and left through the front door. They bought some food, filled their bottles with water from the fountain and stocked up on arrows and bombs.

It was nearly noon when they ran out of the city and down the draw bridge. Once they were out of sight from anyone at the gates, Sam changed into his wolf form and they warped to the lake.


	36. Walking the Desert

"I thought it was about time for you two to show up," 

Sam and Lara stood infront of an elderly man. They'd walked up to a small stone tower and climbed up the ladder, where they met this man. He wore a yellow jacket, brown pants and boots. His hair was gray and his eyes were blue.

"Sam and Lara, right?" the man asked.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

"I'm Auru. I've been investigating the old prison in the Gerudo Desert."

Sam looked past the man and over the eastern cliff above the lake. In the distance, he could see six tall towers set up in a circle.

"Something odd has been going on there," Auru was saying. "Rumors of a ghost."

"A ghost?" Sam asked. That got him interested. He'd always been interested in strange events that had to do with ghosts or spirits, but this might be a chance to see one up close.

"Aye," Auru replied. "Very strange, too. I'd go up there myself, but I'm old and I couldn't make the journey."

"We could go for you," Lara suggested. "We're always interested in an adventure now and then."

"Would you? That'd be great! Here, take this to Fyer. He's down on the docks, he'll know what to do with these notes."

Auru handed Sam a few pieces of papers. It was writen in some form of Hylian, but he couldn't understand it. They went down the path and down the long dock.

"Need me to hold your hand again?" Sam asked.

"No," Lara replied.

"Oh, howdy folks!" Fyer exclaimed. "Come back for another trip?"

"In a way," Sam said. He handed Fyer the notes. "Auru sent these."

"Auru? He's still alive is he? Well, let's see here...Alright, an Oasis flight coming right up!"

Fyer walked away from the door way into the cannon and let them pass without charge.

* * *

Sam pushed himself up off the ground. They'd taken the cannon ride to the top of the east cliff. He spit out a mouthful of sand and looked forward.

An endless desert of pale yellow sand spread across the valley. The afternoon sun crashed down across the sand, making it sparkle in places.

"This is the Gerudo Desert," Lara sighed. "It's dangerous, there're sand-traps and Molodorms out here."

"You know the safe path, right?" Sam asked.

"There's no safe path."

"Then we should run."

"And pass out before we even get half way to that tower?"

Lara pointed to a tall black tower that stood to the south of the prison.

"I guess we'll walk," Sam said. "C'mon."

They walked through the sand. The sun blazed down across the land, continuing to increase the desert's heat. They came to a few rocks, where there was shade.

They sat in the shadows and drank some of the water they'd brought.

"You're still wearing the Zora armor," Sam said. "You've got to be pretty hot. Aren't you going to take it off?"

"I would if I had something else under it."

"But you're wearing your leggings and shirt, so you would have something else on."

"I guess."

"I'd rather have you walking around in thin clothes instead of thick armor which'll weigh you down into the sand."

"Alright, alright." She stood up and walked to another rock where Sam couldn't see the other side. "You'd better not look around here, or I'll slap you so hard and so fast you won't know what hit you."

"I won't. That is if you don't get captured or something."

Lara walked around to the other side of the rock. Sam pulled out the bow and looped the quiver over a small rock sticking out of the larger one. He thought he'd heard something, like a small pebble falling against stone.

There was something close by, he knew it. But what he didn't know was the something was right behind him. He didn't know until it was too late, until he felt something hit him over the head, until he blacked out.

* * *

"Sam?" Lara called. "You're being really quiet, you okay?"

She came out from behind the rock. She'd changed into her blue tunic and was putting her armor into her bag when she saw Sam wasn't there.

"Sam? Come on, this is no time to play games!"

No reply. Lara searched around the rocks, there was no signs of Sam. Only the quiver of arrows and the Hero's Bow were set down on a small rock. But then she noticed something in the sand.

She knelt down and picked it up, it was a glass bottle, half full of water. Lara knew it wasn't her bottle, it was Sam's. She saw something in the sand, a cracked club.

"A Bublin's club," she gasped. "No! Sam's been kidnapped by the Bublins!"

She threw the club into the nearby rock and shattered the wood. She latched the quiver to her back and took the bow up in her left hand.

She ran across the sand towards the canyon. If she didn't move fast the Bublin's might find no use of Sam and kill him, or worse leave him somewhere inside Arbiter's Grounds.

Either way Lara wasn't going to let the Bublin's get away with it. The sun was setting fast, working completely to Lara's advantage in the raid of the Bublin camp.

* * *

**Ferrion: It's a miracle! Lara didn't get captured this time! Anyhow, this might be the last update for a while, I'm going on a trip in a few days, I'll be gone all week with no internet. (the torture!!) I'll write while I'm at camp and get a chapter up asap! See ya'll later!**


	37. Meeting Seth

The sun had long since set and the moon was high in the dark sky. Lara entered the Bublin camp, shocked by what she found. A few Bublin corpses laid in a pile.

She continued through the camp, unable to find any Bublins, let alone Sam. The path to Arbitar's Grounds was clear. There was a trail in the sand, like something--or someone, had been dragged along the ground.

The sand was stained with blood, making a path towards the prison. If it was all Sam's blood, he must've been extremely weak by this time, or already unconscious from the blood lose.

Lara ran up the path towards a tall white stone staircase. She ran up the stairs, two at a time, and when she reached the top she bolted through the doorway into the prison.

It was different from what she remembered. There'd been quick sand in the first room and a few platforms leading to the other side of the room.

But this time, it was clearly different. There wasn't any quick sand. The floor was all stone, but there were still the stone platforms leading to the other side of the room.

"I wonder..." Lara took out a bomb, lit it and threw it at the floor. The bomb went right through and exploded. The floor twitched, it was nothing but an illusion. "Set up by Zant probably."

All throughout the prison were more illusions. They'd been placed above many dangers that Lara would've seen right away from afar, rather than nearly falling into them.

She entered into a dark chamber. Four blue flames flickered in tall lanterns above a staircase. On the floor in front of her, was a dusty cloak, the remains of a Poe.

Again, there was some blood on the floor, leading towards and up the staircase. Lara felt in her bag for the black and red stone and realized it was gone.

"Sam, I can't believe you!" she exclaimed. "Took the stone before you were captured."

At least she knew he'd gotten this far. But how much farther had he managed to get before he ran into more trouble. Lara ran up the stairs and followed the thin trail of blood.

The trail stopped in the middle of the next room. The wall to the north was opened. It was wrong, it was all wrong. The wall was supposed to be closed until after the mini-boss battle.

"He couldn't have killed Death Sword, not with that amount of blood lose--" Lara pondered. "...Unless it wasn't his blood!"

She drew out the black sword and looked at the tip of the blade. The blood had dripped farther down the blade and was continuing down to the hilt.

"Oh, man!"

She put the sword away again and bolted through the doorway, up a few staircases and into a large circular room. This was the final room, the lair of prison's monster.

She hadn't expected what she found. The creature was already dead and the doorway outside was open. Had Sam really managed to get this far without help and in such short time?

Lara ran across the room and through the doorway to the outside. She bolted up the staircase to the right of the door and ran down the hallway at the top.

She entered into the clearing at the top of Arbitar's Grounds. A figure stood infront of her, a tall boy. His face was hidden under a dark hood, but Lara could see his sharp canine teeth glowing in the darkness.

* * *

"So, came after all did you?" the boy asked. "Too bad, you're far too late."

He stepped aside and Lara gasped. Sam's limp body lay in the sand, blood dripping from his mouth. Fury rushed over her. Her bottom lip trembled, she clenched her hands into fists.

"He must've been _very_ important to you. That's the thing with you humans, you've all got to much emotion."

"Just because humans have emotions, doesn't mean elves or vampires don't either. We both know that Seth! I created that element in you!"

"Oh, but that is where you're wrong." Seth slowly walked towards Lara. "If you remember correctly, you made me into this heartless orphan, am I correct?"

"Don't come any closer," Lara growled. "I know that walk, it's to alert your prey you're going to suck out it's blood!"

"Very good, you can keep up with your own creations. Too bad your just a weak human and have no control over me!"

Seth leaped at her. Lara jumped back and ran for the stairs. She hadn't gone more than a few steps when Seth grabbed both her arms and held her tightly.

"You should also remember," Seth whispered into Lara's ear. "No human can out run an elf or a vampire. Any last words?"

"Other than to wish that a half-blood like you would get hit by a train," Lara snapped. "No."

"A wise choice. But, I don't like the scent of your blood. Too sour. So, instead-" Lara felt a sudden jolt of pain in her neck. She couldn't help but cry out. "-I'll let your blood get sweet."

Lara's knees gave way under her. She gasped for air, it was becoming hard to breath. She heard a sound behind her, like a fire had been lit.

Seth yelled then turned into a bat and flew off into the night. Lara fell from her hands and knees and hit the cold stone. Weakly, she looked towards the clearing.

Her vision was blurred, but she saw that Sam's body was gone. She felt two arms wrap around her waist and pull her up.

"Lara!" Sam's voice exclaimed. "Lara, say something!"

"I thought," she managed to say. She looked up into Sam's face, he wasn't dead. "I thought you were dead..."

"C'mon! Stay with me! Don't die!"


	38. Worry and Slight Passion

Sam sat in silence, just as he had the past two days. Lara had come to save him when he'd been kidnapped by Seth, but ended up nearly getting killed herself. 

Sam had brought Lara back to Kakariko after she'd passed out and he'd given her CPR. Since they'd gotten to Kakariko, Lara had been asleep-possibly in a coma-and Sam hadn't left her side for more than a few seconds.

He hadn't slept in two days, he was too worried about Lara. Seth had done something to Lara, and Sam knew the vampire would come back to finish the job.

He hadn't eaten or drank anything either, and frankly if he went on like this he'd end up being twice as thin as he already was.

"Sam. Maybe you should rest. Don't worry about Lara, I'll look after her."

"No, Renado. It's my fault this happened and it's my problem."

"Sam, I'd prefer to only have two sick people at a time. I don't have room for a third."

Sam looked over at the other bed. The Zora Prince was sound asleep, still weak from his own sickness. Sam sighed, he knew Renado didn't need anymore trouble.

"Alright, but can I stay here?" he asked.

"You'll have to sleep on the floor, but yes."

Sam sat on the floor and leaned his head on the matteress of the bed. He wasn't going to go too far if Seth was coming back to finish Lara off.

* * *

Sam fell asleep at some point. When he opened his eyes, it was the middle of the night. It'd been early morning when he'd fallen asleep. He stood up and sat down on the bed again.

Seth hadn't showed up, maybe the vampire was still recovering from that magic attack Sam had used. Sam felt the blankets move suddenly.

He looked up and saw Lara was sitting up, panting for breath.

"Sam? What happened?" she asked. "How'd we get here?"

Sam wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. That was all he had to do to tell Lara he'd been worried. She hugged him back, then both of them pushed away from each other.

"Again, I ask: What happened and How'd we get here?"

"First off," Sam began. "Seth tried to kill you by ripping your throat. I used some sort of magic spell on him, made him stop and fly away. Then you passed out, weren't breathing so I had to give you CPR."

"Kiss of life?"

"Mhmm."

Lara's face grew to a light rose color.

"Anyways," Sam continued. "I used a fire warp spell to bring us back here-"

"Fire warp spell?" Lara asked.

"Yeah, Seth dropped this necklace thing. Gives me fire magic."

"Is it a silver locket with a ruby inside?"

"Yeah."

"That is a magical item I had Seth keep in the story. It gives the master a magic power, but Seth can't use it since it's for human or half-humans only."

"Hmm. Well, I brought us back here, got you in the bed and you've been sleeping for nearly three days now. I've hardly slept at all though, I was worried about you."

* * *

"Well, you can stop worrying. I'm fine, but you're not."

"Huh? Wha'ddya mean?"

Lara placed a hand on Sam's forehead and removed it at once.

"You've got a fever. That's what I mean."

"But I don't feel-" Sam began to cough.

"You've caught something," Lara sighed. She stood up and pulled the blanket farther back. "C'mon, get in the bed."

"But we gotta-"

"We can't do anything since you're sick. It won't kill us to wait a few more days."

Sam grumbled but climbed into the bed. He laid his head on the pillow and Lara pulled the blanket up.

"Alright, you rest," Lara said. "I'm going to go back to Arbitar's Grounds-"

"You can't!" Sam sat up. "What if Seth comes back?"

"He caught me once, but he won't catch me again. Please Sam, lay down. I don't want to have Renado give you a sleeping potion."

Sam laid down again but grabbed Lara's hand and held it. He pulled out the silver locket, placed it in her hand and closed her fingers around it.

"Take it. You'll need some sort of magic protection if Seth comes around."

Lara nodded. Sam released her hand and let his arm fall beside him. Lara walked to the door and turned to wave to Sam but stopped. He had fallen asleep.

She sighed, then walked down the stairs, outside and behind one of the buildings where no one would see her. Lara pulled out the black marble and dropped it.

Lara vanished to where ever she'd wanted to go, but what she didn't realize was that the black marble had stayed in Kakariko.


	39. Trying to Think Positive

Sam opened his eyes, he was in the Kakariko inn. He sat up and tried to remember what'd happened.

"Lara was here," he said out loud. "Then she said I had a fever...Ugh! Why can't I remember?!"

"You're awake."

Sam looked up. Renado had entered the room.

"You've been sleeping for a while," the older man said. "Nearly the whole night."

"Tell me, am I sick?"

"No. You were drugged."

"Drugged? By who and what?"

"I'm not sure of that, but I'd guess it'd been Lara who did it."

"But, why?" Sam jumped off the bed and faced Renado "She wouldn't have had any reason to do something like that!"

"I'm more interested into how she did it, not why. Seemed to have been some sort of dark magic."

'Twilight magic,' Sam thought to himself.

"Do you know where she went?" Renado asked.

"No, I can't remember much of anything before I blacked out," Sam sighed. "Oh! That's right, she said she was going back to the desert!"

"Then you'd best hurry."

Sam ran out of the room, down the stairs and behind one of the buildings. He wouldn't have much luck walking through the desert again, but he didn't have much choice.

Something caught his eye, a black marble. He picked it up and recognized it as Lara's teleporting marble she'd used before. He looked at the marble for a moment, then smashed it onto the ground.

He hadn't expected anything to happen. But to his surprise, the floor beneath him gave way and he fell into the clearing above Arbitar's Grounds.

He stood up and looked around. A massive black stone hung by large chains in the middle of the clearing. In front of it was a platform, where a metal frame stood.

Lara sat at the foot of the platform. She had her legs pulled up so she could rest her head on her knees. Sam walked over to her and sat done beside her.

"Hey," he began. "What're you doing here?"

"Trying to figure out what to do," Lara sniffed.

"What to do about?"

"The frame on the platform. It's supposed to hold the pieces of the Mirror of Twilight, the only link to the Twilight Realm."

"What happened to the mirror?"

"Broken, shattered, taken, I don't know."

"What's so important about it?"

"It was the only possible way to get home. Without the first piece that was supposed to be left there, I haven't got a clue if the mirror was shattered or not."

"Maybe Seth took it?"

"Not possible, only Twili can touch the mirror."

"But if Seth was under Zant's control, wouldn't he have Twilight magic?"

"I don't know."

"Is that why you came all this way? To figure out this mystery?"

"Mostly. But the main reason was the curse had spread again and I was losing control of my arm. I didn't want anything to happen, so I came here where there wouldn't be anyone near."

"Did you get control again?"

"Yes, after it smashed a hole in the floor." Lara looked up and held her hand to Sam. Her knuckles were bloody and scratched.

Sam grabbed hold of her left hand with his right hand and wrapped his left arm around her shoulders.

"It'll be okay," he sighed. "We'll find a way home. Somehow."

"I hope you're right."

"I am right! C'mon," he stood up and pulled Lara to her feet. "You just gotta think positive more often. Now, where would the next piece of the mirror be?"

"Snowpeak."

"Then lets get going! For all we know Zant might'a just taken the first piece somewhere else so we couldn't find it. All we gotta do is track down the other pieces and then the last one!"

Lara smiled. It'd been the first time in a while she'd done so without Sam saying or doing anything funny. He was glad to see her smile, it felt to him like she was gaining some confidence.


	40. Ashei

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out the black marble. He handed it to Lara.

"You dropped it."

"And you need this back." Lara handed him the silver locket. "It doesn't do any good for me since I've got Twilight magic in me. Better for you to have it anyway, you were faster to learn the magic of it."

Sam put the his bag. Lara held up the marble and smashed it onto the ground. They were standing infront of the Hyrule Castle Town gates.

"Lara," Sam began. "Did you drug me to get away?"

"Why on earth do you think I'd drug you?" Lara asked. "I wouldn't do that to anyone!"

"Renado said I'd been drugged, which made me sleep for a while."

Lara raised an eyebrow, clearly confused as to what Sam was talking about.

"I havn't got a clue what you're talking about," she said. "But if you'd been drugged that would've explained the fever."

"Well whatever it was, it took some of my memories as to what happened just before I blacked out..."

"Might'a been a reaction from my Twilight magic." Lara placed a hand on Sam's forehead. "Nope, no fever now."

"Weird. Next time you think you're losing control, tell me, okay?"

"Okay. Come on, we need to get an early start on the crowds."

* * *

They ran through the streets and down the alley to Telma's bar. Auru was there now. Shad was sitting at a table looking over some scrolls. The other man, who'd yet to speak, was also looking at Shad's scrolls. Ashei was gone.

"Oh, there you two are!" Auru laughed. "Tell me, did you find anything?"

"Nothing out of the usual," Sam replied. "Just a few ghosts."

"That's a shame. Telma, get these two something to drink, I'll pay for them."

"Oh, no that's fine. We're just checking in for a few minutes." Lara said. "Where's Ashei gone?"

"She's gone to Snowpeak," Shad said. "Said something about the mountain becoming colder than usual and ran out."

"Shall we go look for her?"

"If you don't mind," Auru laughed. "She's the youngest of us four and she's stubborn to boot but she does have some sense in her."

"Alright, we'll be going then."

"Take some salted meat with you." Telma said. She placed a small bundle on the counter. "Best for cooking cold weather."

"Thanks." Lara picked up the bundle. "Let's go."

"And make sure you each get a thick fur coat. Won't do either of you any good if you end up freezing out there."

They left the bar and headed back to the main street. Lara put the bundle into her bag. 

"I won't need to get a coat," Sam said. "I can turn into a wolf, so it won't be a problem for me."

"But at the top of the mountain you've got to slide down the mountain to get the next area." Lara sighed. "You can't slide in wolf form so you'll have to be human."

"I was hoping not to get more than we needed..."

"Getting you a coat isn't 'getting more than we need'."

"I guess not."

"Come on, it's not like you'll have to wear it forever. I've got to do that."

They bought two fur coats, one was thinner than the other but it was larger. Once they'd bought some other supplies such as bread and apples, they left town.

It was easy for them to get to Snowpeak. They had gone to Zora's Domain first, then headed down the waterfall to a small cave at the bottom of cliffs.

* * *

A swift, chilly breeze blew from the cave, though it wasn't too cold. They walked through the cave. Sam didn't feel anything, it was almost like his body heat had been increased as he entered the cold.

He'd been carrying his coat on his shoulder, but now he didn't really need it.

"Here," Sam said. He drapped his coat over Lara's shoulders. "It won't do me any good now, I think the locket's magic as increased my body temperature to resist the cold."

They left the cave and entered into a valley. Sam couldn't see more than a yard or two ahead of them. There was a blizzard roaring on Snowpeak, blinding anyone who tried to climb the mountain.

He caught sight of Ashei, she was dressed in a thick, white fur coat.

"Ashei!" he exclaimed. He ran up to her. "What're you doing out here in this blizzard?"

"I could ask you the same," Ashei replied. "The mountain has become much colder since Zora's Domain was frozen."

"The Zora say that a monster has been coming to their village and taking fish," she continued. "I waited for the monster and when I saw it, it took a large red fish from the pool and ran back up the mountains."

"Did you get a picture of it?"

"A drawing at least. Here."

Ashei handed Sam a piece of paper. There was a rough drawing of a white creature holding a red fish in one claw.

"Talk to the Zora, see if they recognize it. I'll head back to Hyrule Castle Town soon. You might want to check on your friend, looks like she's freezing."

Sam turned to Lara. She had wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep warm. He walked over to her.

"I hate the cold," she growled.

"You're gonna get sick if you stay out here," Sam sighed. "C'mon, lets get back to Zora's Domain."


	41. More Trouble

They walked back into the cave and out into the Zora village. Sam asked one of the Zora guards about the drawing and the Zora confirmed it was the monster they'd all seen.

"Okay," Sam said. "We'll need to get through the blizzard, so we'll need to catch one of those fish right?"

"Yeah," Lara replied. "But I have a better idea than fishing them with the rod."

"Hmm?"

"It'd be alot faster to swim around and catch one rather than going to Kakariko and coming back here just to catch a single fish."

"Probably. But--isn't that one of those red fish?"

Lara turned to the shore just below them. A dead red fish floated in the water. She bent down, picked it up and looked it over.

"Yup, a ReekFish," she walked over to a rock. "C'mon, it'll be safe for you to change form over here."

* * *

They went around the side of the rock where no one could see them. Sam changed to his wolf form and sniffed the dead fish. 

"Ugh!" he coughed. "Is it supposed to smell like crap?"

"Yeah, but the smell is increased since it's dead."

"Bleh! I'm not gonna forgot that smell for a while."

"Ok," Lara threw the fish into the water. "Where's the trail lead?"

"To the cave up to Snowpeak."

Lara put the thinner coat away and pulled out the thick one. She put it on then walked out from behind the rock.

"Alright, follow it," she said.

Sam walked up the path to the cave. They entered the cave and came out at Snowpeak. The swirling snow had sped up, making it hard for them to see.

"Think you can follow in this snow?" Sam asked. "It's pretty thick, you might get lost if we lose sight of each other."

"I'll manage," Lara replied. "I know the path fairly well, if I lose you, I'll just keep taking the path I remember."

"Okay, but stay close."

* * *

They climbed down the snowy cliff and walked across the valley. The ground felt like stone, but it was slick and slippery. 

"S-Sam, we've got a problem."

Sam turned around to look at Lara. She was only a few feet away but Sam could clearly see she was shaking.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The floor is cracking."

"So?"

"We're standing on top of a frozen lake."

Sam stared at her and now saw her face was pale and her eyes full of fear. There were some cracking sounds. He looked down at the floor beneath him and saw thousands of cracks. He was standing on a weak point in the ice.

"Lara-!" he began to say. The ice underneath him gave way, plunging him into the icy water.

At once he felt how cold it was, even with the silver locket. His body was growing numb, he couldn't breath, he was going to drown. He looked up to the ice and saw a dark shape running towards the hole.

But it didn't matter, this was it, he was going to die. He was running out of air, he didn't know if he'd drown or freeze to death first. The dark shape leaped into the hole and the water.

That was the last thing Sam saw, the dark shape swimming towards him, then choking darkness.

* * *

**Ferrion: I know! I know! But this time I promise it's the last update for a while! I swear it on my evil purple monkey!**

**Raxal: An evil purple monkey?**

**Farrion: Yeah.**

**Raxal: You mean this?**

**Evil purple monkey starts throwing apples at Ferrion**

**Ferrion: Uhh...I'll be back June 25th. Run away!!! **


	42. Twilight Rescue

**Ferrion: I'm back! With two chapters!! Yay!! More updates coming soon!**

* * *

Darkness, that's all there was. At first, Sam thought it was all over, that'd he'd died. But then he realized that he wasn't dead, that he'd been unconscious for a while and in that time he'd been rescued from the freezing waters.

He opened his eyes and found he was in a cave. He was hanging on the ceiling by his feet, which were held up with some sort of magic.

Below him was a soft landing of snow, where he saw the Master Sword sticking out of the crystalized water. His whole body, except for his head was frozen in a thin layer of ice.

Sam wasn't able to see much, but he could tell that there was a passage infront of him and behind him, both leading into darkness. His hearing aid hadn't been damaged-thank gosh-so he could still hear easily.

He listened for any sounds. There was the soft splash of dripping water, a harsh wind coming from behind and from both passages came the soft clicks of claws and they were drawing closer.

A figure appeared infront of him. A white furred, blue eyed werewolf dressed in black robes stepped out of the darkness, followed by several White Wolfos.

"Ahh, you're awake," the werewolf laughed. "Just in time for dinner, aren't you lucky?"

"I doubt there's anything for a human to eat," Sam growled. He already knew what was coming, it was the most obvious thing. _He_ was dinner. "And I also doubt you've had alot of human meat living in these mountains."

"Big talk for a little human. Too bad your little friend never got a chance to defend herself."

"What'd you do to her? Tell me!"

"Left her at the lake, surrounded by twenty members of my pack. No doubt, she's been devoured, bone and all."

* * *

Sam fell silent, he wasn't sure of how he should react. The first thing would've been to cut the werewolf down to pieces, but with his body frozen and the Master Sword far out of reach, he didn't have a chance.

"Pack, dinner is served!" the werewolf laughed.

Sam felt his feet drop from the magic spell and he fell into the snow below. The sword was just in reach, but he was still frozen and couldn't move his arms or legs.

He felt a sharp claw dig into his back and the snarls of the Wolfos around him.

There was a loud shriek and a crash. The Wolfos on Sam's back was slammed into a nearby wall with such force it's neck snapped in half.

A figure came into Sam's eye sight. It was a Twilight creature of some sort. It's skin, hair and clothes were all jet black. It had deep blue eyes that glowed with fury.

Wolfos leaped at the Twilight creature, but it easily killed them with a single swipe of one claw. The creature faced the werewolf, flexed both of it's hands, then bolted at the werewolf.

The two were fighting claw-to-claw, never ending their slashes, kicks or punches at one another. Sam could feel his arms again and he pushed himself up to a sitting position.

The battle wore on for ten minutes or so. The Twilight creature was the victor. The werewolf vanished into a cloud of purple-black smoke.

The Twilight creature turned around and stumbled towards Sam. It'd been slashed across it's left cheek and green goo was dripping from the wound.

The creature fell to it's knees a few feet away and began to disintegrate. The darkness faded away, falling onto to the snow and melting at the touch of the frost.

* * *

Sam stared as he saw a new figure appear. It was Lara, she was covered in blood.

"Huh?" she said in confusion. "What happened?"

"You were having a nightmare," Sam sighed. He pushed himself closer to her and sat beside her. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was surrounded by Wolfos. They kept attacking me from all sides, never allowing me to take out a weapon. I fell to the ground and felt something deep inside take over. I had a desire to taste blood and to feel my hands rip apart flesh and-"

"You don't have to say everything." Sam placed a hand on Lara's shoulder. "You're shaking."

"Am I?"

"Yeah and pretty badly."

"I didn't really notice."

"Well, don't worry about it now, we gotta get out of here. Think you can walk?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure."

Sam stood up and held a hand out to Lara. She grabbed it and Sam pulled her up, but as soon as she was up, her legs buckled underneath her. Sam caught her before she fell, but he knew she wasn't able to walk.

"You can't walk, I'll carry you," he said.

"I can walk, I just stumbled," Lara protested.

"I don't care if you stumbled or not. With the amount of blood you've lost, I'm not letting you walk."

The white snow was stained with red sticky blood, most of it being Lara's and some of it belonging to the slain Wolfos.

Sam put the Master Sword away. He picked Lara up, wrapped one arm around her knees and the other just below her shoulders. He headed down the tunnels, towards the blowing wind.


	43. Top of Snowpeak

It didn't take long to get out of the cave. Once they were outside, they could see right away that the blizzard was dying down. It was still freezing outside, but Sam could hardly feel it. He gripped tighter around Lara, trying to keep her warm. 

The snow was thick and hard to run through, so Sam had to walk. He'd have much rather ran than walked, but with the blizzard still blowing and only a few feet of sight, he wasn't going to risk it.

It took close to an hour to reach the top of Snowpeak. The blizzard had died down and was nothing more than small flurrys of snow.

The moon was high in the sky, they'd been on Snowpeak for a whole day already. The glow from the full moon shined across the sparkling snow, giving it an enchanted look.

"Lara," Sam said. "Where do we need to go now?"

"There should be a white tree with crystal blue leaves," Lara replied. "The white creature should be there, he'll tell you what to do."

Farther up the top of the cliff was the white tree with crystal blue leaves. It was far taller than Sam, at least three times bigger. Standing under the tree was the white creature.

Sam took a few steps forward, then stopped dead in his tracks when they were surrounded in a Twilight barrier.

* * *

Three Twilight Messangers appeared around them. These three were far larger than all the others had been. 

"Princess!" one of them laughed. "Come with us, you're torture is nearly over!"

"Get out of here!" Sam yelled. "We don't want you here!"

"Sam, put me down," Lara said. "I'll slow you down. You've got to fight them."

"But two of them could take me down, while you'd easily be captured by the other."

"Trust me. It's the only way to get out of this alive."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Yell if you need me."

Sam put Lara on the ground, then drew out the Master Sword and rushed at the closer of the three Twilight Messangers. One slash and the Twilight creature was dead.

He leaped at the other one and stabbed the sword through the creature's head. Both were dead and vanished in a small explosion.

"S-Sam!"

Sam whirled around to see the other Twilight Messanger had grabbed Lara's arm and held her so tightly her arm was starting to bleed again.

"Let her go!"

Sam leaped right between Lara and the Twilight Messanger and stabbed it clear through it's heart-if it had a heart that is. It also vanished in a small explosion.

The barrier was lifted, allowing them to pass through. Sam put the sword away, knelt down beside Lara and stretched out her injuryed arm.

"It's not broken," he sighed. "Just bleeding from the wounds...Woah!"

The wounds that'd been made by the Twilight Messanger's claws were turning black and spreading across Lara's arm.

"It had more of the curse in it," Sam growled. "We've got to get moving."


	44. Snowpeak Ruins

Sam entered the large mansion. He'd spoken to the creature, found it was named Yeto and he'd found a piece of a mirror just a few weeks ago.

Yeto had invited Sam to his home for a warm meal and somewhere for Lara to rest. Sam gripped tightly around Lara, she was trembling and her face was wet with sweat.

Yeto showed them into the living room were a smaller white creature sat near the fireplace. A couch was set up on the other side of the fireplace.

Sam gently set Lara on the couch, pulled a blanket from his bag and wrapped it around her. She was hardly conscious, but she forced herself to stay awake.

"Lara, I'm gonna take a look around for the mirror piece," Sam said. "You stay here and rest, okay?"

"You won't be able to find it without my help," Lara protested. "I can walk-"

"No, you can't."

"But-"

"Please stay here and rest. I don't want to have to bury you in Hyrule."

"I'm not going to die."

Sam knew this would never end. Lara's stubborness was trying to win over him, but he wasn't going to let it. He knelt down and held Lara in a tight hug.

"Sorry," he whispered. He lightly smacked the back of Lara's head, knocking her unconscious.

Sam laid Lara down on the couch, pulled the blanket tighter around her, then turned to face the smaller white creature.

"Me Yeta," the creature said. "Yeto, my husband."

"I'm looking for a piece of a mirror." Sam said. "Reflecting glass, have you seen anything like that?"

"Yes! Yeto find it and give to Yeta as gift. But Yeta get sick after mirror come."

"Can I take a look at it?"

"Locked in bedroom. Need key to door."

Yeta handed Sam a map of the mansion. A room to the northeast of the living room was outlined in blue, while the rest of the map was black.

"Key should be there," Yeta said. "Go through kitchen, speak to Yeto."

* * *

Sam stumbled through the door. He'd been trying to find the key for the past two hours, but only found a pumpkin and a block of cheese. There'd been a battle against the Darkhammer and Sam had been left wounded.

Shortly after the battle with the Darkhammer, Sam had found a new weapon, which was a large iron ball connected to a long chain. He'd called it the Ball and Chain, but he'd have to ask Lara what it was really called.

He sat down beside the couch and looked up at Lara. She was still unconscious. He sighed, then looked at his hands. They'd been smashed into a stone wall and were now bright red and numb.

"Didn't find key?" Yeta asked.

"No," Sam replied.

"Try this room." Yeta handed the map to Sam. A room in the northwest corner of the mansion was outlined.

"Alright, I'll take a look." Sam began to stand up, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Lara was awake.

"You hit me," she said. Sam was about to explain, but Lara cut him off. "I know why you did. I'm a stubborn girl who could care less about her own safety."

Lara removed her hand from Sam's shoulder, held it to her neck and wrenched something loose. She handed Sam her silver necklace, the chain was snapped from Lara pulling it from her neck.

"Inside this is the first piece of the mirror," she said. She gave it to Sam. "It's a dark magic, so don't touch the jewel. It's been giving me small bursts of the curse since I got it. I didn't realize it until now. But with it out of my hands, the curse should begin to vanish."

"You'll be healed?"

"In time, but yes. I think I'll be strong enough to travel tomorrow."

Sam put the necklace into his bag, then looked at Lara and smiled. She smiled back, then closed her eyes and fell asleep again.

Sam stood up and left the room, heading out into the courtyard. The moon was hidden behind dark clouds in the sky. The thick snow spread across the courtyard was hard to walk in.

* * *

It was a bit odd, but Sam hadn't met with any monsters except for the Darkhammer. It was almost like any other monsters had melted after the blizzard stopped.

Sam thought nothing of this though. He climbed up a ladder to the second floor and entered into the room indicated on the map. There was nothing in this room, same as all the other rooms.

Sam walked up the large blue treasure chest, opened it and pulled out a blue key with a heart-shaped handle.

'Weird looking key,' he thought to himself.

He walked back out into the courtyard and was surprised to meet Yeta just outside the door.

"You okay?" Yeta asked.

"Yes," Sam replied. "I've got the key."

"Good. Bedroom just above us. Follow me."

Yeta led Sam up a staircase and a large door. The door was locked with a blue heart-shaped lock and silver chains. Sam took out the key, placed it into the lock and turned it.

The lock fell off and the chains fell to either side of the door. They entered into a large room. A bed sat to one side of the room, a table and two chairs on the other and on the back wall was the piece of the Mirror of Twilight.

Yeta walked up the mirror and motioned for Sam to follow.

"This mirror," Yeta said. She looked at the mirror, keeping her back to Sam. "Pretty, no?"

"Yeah, it's nice," Sam replied.

"So pretty...So pretty...You want take mirror."

"Uhh..."

"No take mirror!" Yeta whirled around to show she'd become a monster. Her brown eyes turned blood red while her teeth were now sharp and pointed.


	45. A New Arrival

The windows above shattered, snow and ice came through, freezing the walls and floor. Yeta herself had become surrounded in an ice block and was spinning around the room. 

Sam had been tricked into this battle, now he couldn't get out of it. He took out the Ball and Chain, took a tight hold on the chain and began to spin the metal ball above his head.

Yeta came at him. Sam let the metal ball fly and smash into the ice block. The ice block was thrown across the room and slammed into the wall, shattering the block.

* * *

Yeta surrounded herself in a bigger ice block and created ten small ice blocks as well. The smaller ice blocks floated towards Sam. One of them dived towards him, but he dodged out of the way.

The other blocks followed the first and began to dive at Sam. He kept dodging the attacks, but he was growing weaker with every moment.

Sam was tripped by a few ice chunks beating into his legs. He rolled a few times on the slippery floor. Once he'd stopped, he tried to get up, but found his legs had been frozen.

The last ice block came right at him. A figure leaped from a window above, grabbed the ice block and threw it at Yeta.

Sam looked at the figure, shook his head slightly and looked again. The figure was a tall girl, about the age of seventeen. She had short brown-red hair and violet eyes.

She wore a pair of blue jeans, a short sleeved black shirt and a white long sleeved shirt underneath. Around her neck was a leather cord with a small silver key looped onto it.

In the girl's right hand was the black and red sword Sam and Lara had found in the Sacred Grove.

"Hey!" Sam yelled. "Who're you? What're you doing with that sword?!"

The girl glared at him for a moment, then waved a hand at him.

"Rest," she said. "This is not your battle now."

Sam was about to protest when a sudden wave of fatigue swept over him. He slipped out of the world, forgetting about everything.

* * *

Some time later, Sam was coming around again. The first thing he noticed was soft grass at his finger tips. He knew he was off Snowpeak now, but where exactly he wasn't sure of.

He opened his eyes to look up into a starry night sky. He looked to his left to see Lara lying beside him. She was still asleep. Sam sat up and looked around. They were in Hyrule Field, near Faron Woods.

"Are you awake yet?"

Sam looked around. Standing a few feet away was the girl.

"You!" Sam coughed. "What do you think you're up to?!"

"Same as you, I'm out to save my world."

"This isn't your world though, you're human like we are! You're from earth!"

"My home isn't your home. If I may ask, have you met a boy called Seth?"

"Half vampire, half elf. He tried to kill Lara not long ago."

"I know Seth. We've met once or twice, in Lara's mind."

"What'd you mean?"

"Seth and I are two of Lara's creations. We're both characters in one of her stories."

"Wait, are you the person Seth tried to kill?"

"I am. My name is Sage. I'm sadly an uncompleted character."

"Uncomplete? You were never finished?"

"No. My basic idea had been made, but other than that I had no soul."

"But if you're not complete, how're you here?"

"When Seth was brought to life, he brought me along for the ride. Since I was incomplete, I created myself."

"What are you exactly?"

"I am half human and half elf."

"You don't look it."

"The only part of me that looks elf are my ears. They're pointed. But enough of this mindless talk, we've something more important to discuss."

Lara sat up and opened her eyes. She stared at Sage as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sam wrapped his left arm around Lara and pulled her close to him.

"Alright," Sam sighed. "What're we discussing?"


	46. Moonlight

"Seth is a dangerous creature," Sage began. "We've been at each other's throats for the past four years, when Lara created us."

"Why did you create a monster?" Sam asked.

"I didn't think about it at the time," Lara replied. "I mean, I was only twelve!"

"If I may continue," Sage growled. "Seth's first role in the story was to kill me when I was eleven. He failed at that, ended up getting himself trapped in a time burst."

"Though he was gone, his memory was still there in Lara's mind," she continued. "The only way to destroy the memory would've been to destroy myself as well, so I choice against it."

"When Lara was kidnapped, Zant took some of her memories, copied them, then put them back into place. At the same time, he injected a thick black liquid into Lara's left arm."

"The curse," Sam and Lara said at the same time.

"Exactly. Zant took the memory of Seth and since I was linked to the memory, I was also taken out. We were both brought to life, but neither of us were set free until a few days ago."

"Set free?" Lara asked. "Zant just let you go?"

"Zant thought we were both evil creations from your mind. He has control of Seth and he'll soon realize he doesn't have control of me."

"But what is the point of telling us this?"

"I can keep Seth away from you, if you do something for me."

Lara looked at Sam, waiting for his opinion on the matter. He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to say. He knew nothing of the rage held between Sage and Seth, but then again Lara didn't know much either.

"Okay," Sam said. "If Lara agrees to it, I agree to it."

"I require an item of power," Sage said. "Something with magic woven into it."

"A magical item of power?"

"Yes."

* * *

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver locket. He hated to let the fire magic go, but if it meant protection from Seth, he was willing to let it go. 

He handed the locket to Sage, who looked at it for a moment, then pocketed it.

"Very well," Sage said. "You won't have any trouble from Seth for a while. We'll meet again."

"Wait, where do we go now?" Sam asked.

"Ask the people at Telma's bar, they should know."

Sage pulled out a small clear marble, threw it on the ground and vanished in a flash of light.

"Her magic is alot stronger than I made it to be," Lara said. "I'm still tired from the sleeping spell she cast on us."

"Sleeping spell?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, I woke up and saw her standing above me. She waved a hand over my head and I fell asleep again, even though a moment ago I was full of energy."

"Hmm...Then we should probably rest until the spell wears off comletely."

Sam laid back down on the grass and looked up into the sky. It wasn't even midnight, but the sky was dark. Lara laid down beside him. They sat in silence for a while, looking up into the starry sky.

"You know," Lara began. "Sometimes I wonder why any of this happened."

"So do I," Sam agreed. "I guess fate brought us together to save this world."

"Couldn't fate have brought us together in a less painful way? That would've been alot better."

"Well, think about it. If we hadn't been brought together this way, would we have been able to rely on each other like we do now?"

"Probably not."

"Exactly. Fate not only brought us together, but it's helping us to build trust in each other."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

A cool breeze swept over the field. Sam could feel the chill, now that he'd lost the fire magic. It felt nice, but at the same time it felt wrong.

"You okay?" Lara asked. "You look a bit pale."

"It's the cold," Sam replied. "I'm not used to it."

"Well..." Lara pulled a blanket from her bag and drapped it over Sam. "Better?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

"You can sleep, I'll keep a look out for any danger."

"You sure you can handle something more than a Bokoblin?"

"Right now I could take on Zant."

"Okay. Wake me up if anything happens."

"I will."

* * *

It'd only been a few hours before Sam woke up. He didn't move for a few moments. He listened for any sounds, but found the only noise was the rustling grass and leaves. He sat up looked around to find Lara had fallen asleep.

"Gosh, she must be more effected by the spell than I was," he said out loud. He pulled the blanket off himself and wrapped it around Lara, making sure she wouldn't freeze. His movements had been enough to wake her.

"Hmm, is something wrong?" she mumbled.

"No, I was just giving you the blanket so you wouldn't get cold."

"Oh. What time is it?"

"Must be nearly three in the morning."

Lara sat up and looked up into the sky. The full moon came out from behind the dark clouds and shined it's pale light over the field.

"You ready to go?" Lara asked.

"At this time of the night?" Sam replied.

"Why not? Less likely we'll get caught by any creatures right now."

"Oh. Yeah, if you're okay to go."

"Then let's get going."

* * *

**For those of you who read the original of this chapter, I'm sorry, but I couldn't stand it and I had to change it.**


	47. Return to the Sacred Grove

It was still night when they entered the Sacred Grove for a second time. Same as before, the trees were taller, the leaves blue and fireflies drifted with the slight breeze. 

Skull Kid was waiting for them, as if he'd been expecting them. He laughed, turned around and ran into the woods. Sam and Lara raced after him, following the child deep into the forest.

They entered into a stone clearing. Skull Kid stood above them on a high branch in one of the trees. Sam knew it was an easy shot with a bow, so he took it out along with an arrow.

He placed the arrow on the bowstring, took aim, pulled back and let go of the string, letting the arrow fly. Direct hit! Skull Kid fell to the ground and stumbled to his feet again.

"I'm not gonna play with you today," he coughed. "You can go through."

A part of the pale stone wall vanished, showing a path up to another clearing. Skull Kid jumped up into the trees and disappeared.

They walked up the path and entered into the ruins of the Temple of Time. The moon was setting now and the first light of dawn was spreading across the sky.

A path lead down to the large area where the two statues stood. Beyond the clearing, they went up the stairs into the grassy clearing where the pedestal was.

"Put the sword back into the pedestal," Lara said. "Don't worry about it getting stuck, it won't."

Sam stepped up the pedestal, drew out the Master Sword and drove the blade into the stone. He waited a moment, then withdrew the sword.

"Was something supposed to happen?" he asked.

"Something did happen. We can get into the Temple of Time now."

"Huh? We're already in the ruins. What're you talking about?"

"This is when we take a step back in time," Lara laughed. "Into the past Temple of Time, when it was still standing strong."

Sam shrugged, then led the way back down into the clearing. Lara was right behind him, but he had an odd feeling something was going to happen.

* * *

There was a crash. Sam whirled around to see Lara was trapped within a Twilight barrier.

"Lara!" Sam ran at the barrier in attempt to pass through, but it threw him back when he made contact with it.

Five Twilight Messangers fell into the inclosed area. In seconds, they'd surrounded Lara and were hissing words in another language. Lara seemed to know what they were saying and she hissed back in the same language.

"Stay there," Lara said in plain english. "I'll just be a minute."

Lara drew out both her daggers and twisted her arms around for a spin attack. The Twilight Messanger's jumped at her, but she was faster.

Lara let loose a wave of energy as she spun in place. The energy vanished, taking the Twilight creature with it into oblivion.

The barrier shattered to pieces and vanished into dust. Sam rushed forward and stood infront of Lara.

"You okay?" he asked. "What was that attack?"

"I think I'm okay," Lara coughed. "I'm just feeling a little dizzy."

"Probably used alot of your energy for the attack." Sam took Lara's daggers and slipped them into their sheathes. "Need some help walking?"

"No, I'll be alright."

They walked up the path and to the higher level of the clearing. A dark door appeared a short distance from the broken staircase. Carved into the door was ancient Hylian.

"That door leads to the past?" Sam asked.

"Yup."

"Does it open by itself?"

"Only for the wielder of the Master Sword."

"Then how're you getting in?"

"Well, since I'm going in with you, I'm automatically recognized as a follower of the Master Sword."

"Okay, we've got everything right?"

"Mhmm."

Sam stepped towards the door. It opened outward, splitting into two halves. Sam grabbed Lara's hand and after making sure she was following, he stepped through the doorway.


	48. Temple of Time, Part 1

Sam stared around at what he saw. He and Lara stood at the top of a strong, unbroken staircase.

They'd entered into a large room. The ceiling was high like a cathedral. The walls were made from pale brown stone. Stain-glass windows let multi-color light shine across the marble floor.

"This is the Temple of Time," Lara said. "It looks different now than it did in the game."

"Hmm..." Sam pondered. "Maybe it's the difference between programming and reality."

"Maybe. C'mon."

Lara led the way down the stairs, across the room, up another staircase and into the Chamber of the Master Sword. They stood in front of the stone pedestal. Sam drew out the Master Sword and stuck the blade into the pedestal again.

A blue staircase of light appeared before them, leading to the stain-glass window above. As Sam withdrew the blade, he saw Ooccoo run past them and up the stairs.

The stain-glass window vanished, allowing the feathered creature to pass. Once she'd gone past the window appeared again.

"An illusion window," Sam said. "Odd for the Temple of Time to have that sort of thing."

"Yeah," Lara laughed. "But hey, it just makes the temple even weirder than it already is."

They walked up the stairs, passed through the window and into a small doorway. They entered into another chamber. Same as in the temple, the walls here were made of pale brown stone.

A large bell stood in the center of the room, hanging from a large metal frame bolted into the floor. Along the walls was written from ancient Hylian history. Sam had no idea what any of it meant, but he suspected it had something to do with the first legend of the Hero of Time.

On the other side of the room was a large door. It was closed and locked tight, but there wasn't a lock for a key to go in. To the left of the door stood a large statue. To the right there was a platform where something must've belonged.

"If you change into your wolf form you might see what's missing in the room," Lara suggested.

Sam changed into his wolf form and switched his vision so he could see any scents or ghosts. The platform to the right of the door now held the faint outline of a statue. It looked just like the one on the other side of the door.

"There was another statue," Sam said. He brought his vision to normal again and look up at Lara. "I guess we've got the find it?"

"Indeed."

"And where is it?"

"Top of the tower, the eighth floor."

"Then we'd better get a move on. I'd rather not stay here longer than needed."

Sam changed back to human and turned to face the door back outside. Two staircases stood on either side of the room, leading up to the second level where another door stood.

"Up is the only way to go," Lara said. "Be careful though, there are tons of traps."

Sam thought he heard something. He turned around to see a large spider-about the size of a dalmatian-leap from the ceiling right above Lara.

"Get down!" Sam exclaimed. He drew out his sword, pulled Lara out of the way and struck the spider while it was in mid-air.

The spider screamed an blood curdling screech as the sword sliced it in half. The room was filled with the scream, but soon died away.

"Where'd that come from?" Lara pondered out loud. "It wasn't here in the game...Oh, crap!"

Sam turned to Lara, then looked up to where she was looking. The ceiling had been too high here to see it, but now he could see it. An ill light glowed from a huge tangle of spider webs that were made around the ceiling.

From every inch of the spider webs came more and more spiders. There were thousands of them.

"Please tell me this happened in the game," Sam groaned. He turned to Lara, who looked right into his eyes.

"No, this didn't happen in the game," Lara sighed.

"Great...Time to run like no tomorrow?"

"Time to run like no tomorrow."

* * *

The spiders were far behind them, but quickly gaining ground. They'd run up all the staircases they came to and were now at the last one. They came to a door, which opened for them when they were ten feet away. 

They rushed inside and Sam quickly closed the door again. As soon as the door was closed, it locked itself with thin, spiked gold rods.

"No way inside," Sam sighed. He panted for air and was facing the locked door. "And no way out either. What'd we do now?" Lara didn't reply. "Lara?"

Sam turned around to look at her. She was facing the room. He stepped up to her and looked at her. Her body was tense, her face was pale and her eyes were full of fear.

"Lara? What is it?"

Lara didn't say anything, but pointed to the center of the room. Sam turned to look at what she was so scared about. A tall figure in black armor stood in the center of the room. The figure was at least seven feet tall.

Sam could understand why Lara would be scared of this person, the figure was almost two feet taller than she was. Sam turned to Lara again and lightly grabbed her shoulders.

"Is it something about that guy?" he asked.

Lara suddenly snapped back to herself. She shook her head slightly, then looked back towards the figure.

"Look out!" she exclaimed. She grabbed Sam and threw him out of the way, while she jumped to the other side. A long, thick, dull black blade slashed the place where'd they'd been just a second before.

The figure had tried to attack them. Sam drew out his sword and held it in both hands. Lara reached to pull out her daggers but the tall swordsman took a swing at her, forcing her to jump out of the way.

Sam rushed forward and struck the swordsman's armor. It hardly did anything, didn't even make a dent in the armor. Sam kept beating at the armor, but he couldn't keep it up for long.

The suit of armor fell to pieces, this was Sam's chance to kill the swordsman. He began to lift the sword up, but found the swordsman was faster now.

The swordsman whirled around and grabbed Sam's neck. He rushed forward and slammed Sam into the stone wall. The swordsman let go of Sam and turned his attention back to Lara.

Sam struggled to stand and he gasped for air. Why hadn't the swordsman simply killed him? He pushed the thought out of his mind and tried to focus on the other two.

The swordsman threw his heavy weapon at Lara, hitting her on the side of her head. The blow was hard enough to knock her unconscious and she fell to the floor.

Sam rushed forward and slashed the swordsman in the back. The swordsman turned around and grabbed Sam's arm.

* * *

"You're strong willed," he said in a low, scratchy voice. "But that won't be enough to hold back your fate." 

"Fate?" Sam asked. "What fate? The fate that I might die in some ritual to bring back a long dead girl?"

"That's it exactly."

"Forget it! That's not the fate I want!"

"What fate do you want?"

Sam fell silent. He wasn't sure what he wanted for his fate, but it wasn't to die for the resurrection of Zant's sister.

"You don't know what you want," the swordsman laughed. "But I bet, you'd like it if _she_ were with you, hmm?"

Sam glanced towards Lara. True it would've been nice if the two of them stayed in touch in the future and remained friends, but something groaned inside Sam, telling him there was more to it than that.

"Ahh. I see," the swordsman sighed. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Sam looked back at the swordsman. He wasn't sure if his feelings for Lara were love or not, he just knew he had feelings for her.

"You don't even know that much," the swordsman said. "That won't make you into a sword master."

Sam wrenched his arm away and stabbed the swordsman though his stomach. The swordsman was wounded, but still standing. He grabbed Sam again and punched him square in the nose.

Sam shook his head and glared at the swordsman. He could feel blood dripping from his nostrils but he couldn't deal with it now. He brought the Master Sword up again and stabbed the swordsman in the heart.

The swordsman fell on his knees, defeated. He was hardly alive, but he still had the energy to talk.

"Come here," he sighed. Sam stepped closer. "Closer."

Sam stood just a foot from the swordsman now. He looked down at the fallen warrior, wondering what he was going to do now.

"I was told by Zant to take you both captive and bring you to him," he coughed. "It would seem I have failed in that. But he gave me another object, if I should fail."

The swordsman grabbed Sam's left arm and Sam felt a jolt of pain shoot through his arm. He yelped and pulled his arm back. A long black needle sunk into Sam's skin and began to turn his arm black.

"That," the swordsman laughed. "Is the same curse that befell your girlfriend. You'll both fall to the same fate, like it or not."

The swordsman exploded in a blast of red-black smoke. Sam fell over on the floor with a sudden pain rushing through his body. It felt like his organs were being burned, his bones melted and his mind broken down to pieces.

He looked over at Lara to find she was picking herself up.

"L-Lara!" Sam spattered.

Lara looked up and gasped. She rushed to Sam and knelt beside him.

"Oh gosh, what happened?!" Lara asked.

"S-swordsman...c-curse..." Sam managed to say. He was finding it hard to say anything or even to think straight.

"Dangit! It's the Twilight curse!"

Sam would've told her more, but he could hardly make a full sentence in his mind, let alone say it!

"It's pulling your mind apart. Don't do anything, don't talk, don't sign, nothing. Just keep focused on your lungs and heart and keep them moving."

Another shot of pain rushed through Sam's body. He cried out from the pain. As soon as the shot of pain died down, Sam slipped into darkness.


	49. Sage and Seth

Sage ran up the hill. She could sense Seth's presence in the air, he was close. She came to the top of the hill and found the boy was facing the setting moon.

His hood was down, allowing his long jet black hair to blow in the breeze. In the early morning light, his hair had a tint of blue and green.

"Seth!" Sage yelled.

The half vampire turned to face the half elf girl. His eyes were bright blue, from his mother's elf blood. They looked at each other for a long moment.

"What do you wish of me, Princess Sage?" Seth laughed. "You know just as well as I that you're no match for my dark magic."

"I don't give a care what you think I can and can't do!" Sage exclaimed. "I'll kill you, then I'll kill Zant!"

"But Sage, my dear. Have you forgotten what your role was when Zant brought you to life?"

Sage glared at the vampire. She knew all too well what he meant, but she would deny it for as long as she could.

"I'm not the princess Zant needs! It's Zelda he needs!"

"That's where you're wrong. Zelda at the moment has no soul and is locked away inside Hyrule Castle. There's no way Zant could even reach her, let alone bring her soul back from it's slumber."

"I could care less what Zant wants! I'm not his princess that he can do anything with and that's that!"

"You underestimate my new power. I can make you do anything I want you to."

"No, you can't."

Seth held up a hand and closed it into a fist. Sage felt a sudden crushing pain in her chest, like her heart was being crushed by great weight. She fell to her knees and cried out as the pain increased.

"Dear little Sage," Seth laughed. He slowly walked towards her. "There's nothing you can do while I have control of your heart."

"Go jump off a cliff!" Sage yelled. She drew out a short knife from her belt and held it to her throat. "I'd rather kill myself than have a scum-bag like you take me back to that demon world!"

Before Sage could even slice her throat, Seth held up his other hand and clenched it into a fist as well. Another sharp stab of pain ran through Sage, making her scream at the top of her lungs. Seth reached forward and took the knife from Sage.

"You shall not be needing that," Seth growled. He threw the knife away, far out of Sage's reach. "Now, come with me or I'll give you even more pain than what you already have."

"Murderer. You killed my friends and family. I'll get my revenge on you, just you wait!"

Seth sighed, then clenched both of his fists tightly, sending more pain through Sage's heart. She fell to the ground, unable to withstand the pain. Seth let his arms fall to his sides and released the pain from Sage.

"Come, we're leaving now," Seth said. He knelt down and lifted Sage off the ground, wrapping one arm around her knees and the other just below her shoulders.

Sage had so many insults to yell at the half vampire, but she was too weak to do so. She glanced up at his pale white face just before she passed out.


	50. Temple of Time, Part 2

Sam forced his eyes open. He was still in the large chamber where he'd fought with the swordsman. His head felt heavy and his muscles were sore. He slowly pushed himself up.

"You're awake," Lara sighed. She walked around from behind him and knelt beside him. "How're you feeling?"

"Like I got hit in the head by a horse," Sam growled. He held his head to try and take out some of the pain, but it didn't help. "It's a little challenging to think straight."

"It'll be like that for a little while. Hopefully there won't be anymore attacks from Zant or Seth, since they can both try to gain control over either of us."

"So I really was cursed?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it was nearly as much as they got into me."

"But we're both at risk of losing ourselves' to the Twilight magic, aren't we?"

"Sadly yes."

"Then it's more likely that Seth will try to track us down, since we're both weak right now."

"But Sage said she'd keep Seth away from us."

"Something is telling me she doesn't have the strength to do so."

"Huh? What'd you mean?"

"I'm not sure, I just have this feeling something has happened to her."

"Let's hope not. Do you think you can walk?"

"Maybe."

"Alright. While you were unconscious I took the statue down stairs and unlocked the door."

"How'd you get that statue down stairs?"

"With this," Lara pulled out a short blue mace from her bag. The thick part that was supposed to be used as the hitting end wasn't made from solid metal. It had three curved rods going up and meeting in the middle. Inside the small space between the rods was a glowing ball of yellow light. "The Dominion Rod."

"What's it do?"

"Takes control of ancient statues and such."

"Cool."

"Now, come on."

Lara put the rod away and helped Sam get up. His legs were a bit shaky, but he could walk. Lara gave him her staff to help him keep balance while he walked. They headed down the stairs. They went at a somewhat slow pace since Sam was struggling to keep from tripping.

* * *

It didn't take them long to get back to the first room. The door forward was open and led down a long hallway to the chamber of the beast. They entered into the large room.

Lara gasped when the door closed and locked behind them.

"What is it?" Sam asked. "I thought you'd have expected to get locked in here."

"Yes, but I wasn't expecting this!" Lara exclaimed. "Something's very wrong."

Sam looked around the room. Torches hung along the walls, giving light to the room. A large statue stood in each of the four corners of the room. Each statue had been broken, leaving piles of rubble near the walls.

"You mean it isn't supposed to look like this?"

"No. It's supposed to be a dark room with only four beams of light from the ceiling. And the statues are supposed to be intact, not broken and shattered."

"What a memory you have," a new but familiar voice laughed. "I must say you know quite a lot about this world."

Sam and Lara turned. Standing in the middle of the room was a boy. His hood was down, showing his jet black hair, bright blue eyes and pale skin.

"Seth!" Lara growled.

"Stay behind me," Sam said. He stepped between Lara and Seth. "What do you want Seth?!"

"Oh, I've just come to take dear Lara to the Twilight Realm," Seth laughed. "You see, King Zant is _so_ worried about her!"

"You're not taking her anywhere!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Seth snapped his fingers and Lara suddenly appeared beside of him. Sam looked behind him to find Seth had done some sort of teleport magic to snatch Lara.

It only took a few seconds for Lara to realize what'd just happened. She tried to run back to Sam, but Seth grabbed her and kept her from moving. Lara struggled to free herself and Seth replied to this by digging his long nails into her skin.

Lara winced in pain but tried her hardest not to scream. Sam could see her eyes were full of fear. Something inside him switched on like a lightbulb. It was almost as if something had taken him over.

He had a thirst for blood, to feel his hands rip apart flesh and bone. He realized too late that this was what Lara had described when she'd been taken over by the Twilight.

But he couldn't stop himself, he'd lost all control. He flexed his hands--which were now almost claws--and rushed at Seth. He slashed at the vampire's arms, making him release Lara.

Seth laughed, then removed his cloak. He wore a pair of black jeans, a red shirt and brown boots. On his belt was the black and red sword Sage had taken from Sam and Lara.

That made Sam's fury worse. He knew now that his worries had been correct and something had happened to Sage. He rushed forward and slammed Seth onto the ground.

He held the vampire down with his left claw, while he attacked with his right. Both his claws were dripping with blood, but it didn't matter, he wanted to kill Seth, to suck his soul out, to become half vampire himself.

* * *

"Sam! Snap out of it!"

Sam felt someone slam him onto the floor. He saw Seth turn into a small black bat and escape through a hole in the ceiling. Sam tried to get up to chase Seth, but he felt something holding him down.

He looked up again and found Lara sitting on top of him and holding his arms to the floor with her hands. What did she think she was doing? Had she betrayed him and turned to Seth's side?

She started to cry. A few tears fell and rested on Sam's cheek. Sam's head began to clear up, as if he'd been knocked out with a tranquilizer and was coming around again. The black of the Twilight faded away and broke up into dust.

Sam was himself again. Lara let go of him and moved away so he could get up.

"Are you okay?" Lara asked.

"I think so," Sam replied. "What was that?"

"Twilight."

"No, not that. You were crying."

"I didn't know what else I could do..." She was trying not to cry now but it wasn't working well.

"Come here." Sam leaned over and hugged Lara. "Nothing to worry about now."

"But what if it happens again?"

"Then we'll figure it out."

They sat in silence for a short time, neither one exactly sure what to say. They didn't know if the Twilight could be controlled and they didn't know when they might meet Seth or Zant again.

"Thanks," Sam broke the silence.

"For what?"

"For waking me up before I did anything I'd regret."


	51. Time Portal

"I suppose now it doesn't matter which of us holds the mirror pieces," Lara said. "We should split them up, so if one of us is captured, only half the mirror is stolen."

"Makes sense," Sam agreed. He pulled out Lara's necklace and handed it to her. "This is yours."

Not long after Sam had come back to his senses, they found the third mirror piece hidden in one of the piles of rubble. Now there was only one left.

"We have to reach the sky. That's where the last piece is."

"It's in the sky?"

"More like the city in the sky."

They walked up the stairs of the Temple of Time and approached the large door. As the door opened, there was a crash and a sudden burst of light. The doorway became a swirling portal, sucking in the air around it.

"What the heck?!" Lara exclaimed.

Sam could feel the wind around him being dragged into the portal. He soon realized that he and Lara were being sucked in as well.

"Lara, hold on!" Sam exclaimed. He grabbed both of her hands and held them tightly. "Is this part of the game or not?"

"It's not. And I have no idea when or where it might take us."

"What'd you mean?"

"We're in a different time, but with this time portal screwed up it could take us to any time."

"Well snap."

The wind was growing stronger, pushing Sam and Lara towards the portal. They were pulled into the portal. After a few moments of falling through the swirling portal, they both fell onto a hard stone floor.

* * *

Sam pushed himself up and looked around. They were in Arbitar's Grounds. Standing in the mirror frame was a glowing mirror. Sam helped Lara to her feet.

"I guess we don't have to go to the sky now," Sam said.

"We don't?" Lara asked. She looked over at the completed mirror. "Dang! I wanted to fight the dragon..."

"There was a dragon in the city in the sky?!"

"Yup."

"I think it's better we don't have to fight it. Anyway, the mirror is complete so we can go into the Twilight Realm now, right?"

"Yup, but be careful. Seth or the Twilight Messengers might try to get us split up."

"Okay—wait what's this?"

Sam pulled a black key out of his bag. It had a green design engraved into it.

"The key to the Twilight Castle's throne room," Lara said. "We can go straight to Zant now!"

"Don't be so sure."

Sam and Lara whirled around to see Seth standing a few feet away from them. His face was still scratched from where Sam had attacked him.

"Get lost Seth," Sam growled. "We don't want you right now."

"Oh, but I want both of you," Seth laughed. "Twilight Messengers, attack!"

Before Sam could do anything, he felt something hit him over the head. He fell to his knees.

"Sam!" Lara exclaimed. She knelt beside him. "Seth you—!"

Sam glanced up to see a Twilight Messenger ram a long black needle into Lara's shoulder. But it wasn't the curse inside the needle, it was a sleeping potion. She fell onto the ground and was out cold in seconds.

Sam felt a stab in his right shoulder. He'd already been weakened from the blow to his head, but now the sleeping potion was getting to him. He fell to the ground from being so weak and suddenly tired.

His vision was blurring and darkening. The night sky above grew darker and darker while the stars faded away.

"Good night," Seth laughed. "When you wake up, you'll wish you'd never been born!"


	52. As Fate Would Have It

Sam opened his eyes. He found himself in a strange throne room. The black walls had a strange red glow to them, giving light to the room. He tried to get up, but found he was chained down to a black stone table. 

"Find them!" a voice exclaimed. "Don't let them escape!"

Sam turned his head to find another stone table a few feet away. The chains on the other table had been melted. A figure stood above Sam. It was Zant.

"So the soul of courage is awake," Zant growled. "But we must still get back the body of light and one of the princesses."

"Lara got away, huh?" Sam laughed. "You got outsmarted by a sixteen-year-old girl. That's just pathetic."

Zant slashed Sam's face with a powerful claw. Sam could feel the blood dripping from the new wound.

"For the master of the Triforce of Courage," Zant snarled, "You don't stop to think before you say something."

"I don't have the Triforce of Courage," Sam growled.

"Yes, you do. And your girlfriend has the Triforce of Wisdom."

"What?"

"Oh, she never told you? Zelda gave your friend the Triforce, just before the princess lost her soul."

"Then you can't complete this ritual! Without Zelda, you've only got the blood of one princess!"

"Not true. You see the half elf Sage, is a princess."

"But...how's that possible?"

"She's the princess of her world. But it doesn't matter right now, she and your girlfriend escaped. But I can still complete half of the ritual, while we wait for the guards to bring back the other two."

Zant pulled a long knife from his cloak. It was yellow bladed with a black handle. He also pulled out a vial of blue liquid, it was Twili blood, Midna's blood. Zant raised the knife above him, then forced it down with a great amount of power

* * *

"Zant!" Lara yelled. "It's time you---"

Lara stared at the scene before her. Zant had hold of a black and yellow knife. The knife was stabbed through Sam's heart and Sam himself wasn't moving. A rush of sorrow and fury came over Lara, turning her into her Twilight monster.

Lara ran forward and slashed Zant as many times as she could. She didn't stop until Zant was laying on the floor and he didn't breath. There was no need to worry about Seth, Sage was fighting him in the next room.

Lara changed back to herself and she ran to Sam. He was still alive, but just barely.

"Sam," she sniffed. "Sam, can you hear me?"

"Yeah," Sam coughed. "I guess this couldn't be helped, huh?"

"I wish I could do something--anything to save you!"

"You could get these chains off me. I'd rather not die tied to a table."

Lara broke the chains quickly. She didn't know what else she could do. If she removed the knife, Sam would die almost instantly. But if she left it in, he'd be in more pain for at least a few minutes before his heart died.

"Pull it out," Sam said. He must've known what Lara had been thinking. "It's alright. I'd rather die quickly with little pain, than slowly with a lot of pain."

"But you won't get back home now," Lara sighed. She tried to hold back her tears, but had no luck. "What about your friends and family? They won't know what happened to you."

"I wish there was something I could do for them, to show them what happened. But I can't. There's nothing I can do about it." Sam reached up with his right hand and wiped the tears from Lara's eyes. "Get home safe, okay?"

Lara nodded. She took hold of the knife, but didn't pull it out. She looked back at Sam. To her surprise, Sam had gone and been replaced by another boy. It was Seth.

"Lara! Come quickly!"

Lara looked up to see Midna. She was no longer under Zant's control. The black stone throne had been moved, to show a new portal in the wall.

"Lara, this portal will take you home!" Midna explained. "It's the only way to get away from here, please hurry!"

Lara let go of the knife and stepped towards the portal.

"What happened to Sam?" she asked. "Is he...?"

"In this world, yes," Midna replied. "But he's waiting for you in your own world! We'll take care of Ganondorf, get going!"

"Good luck."

Lara turned to the portal. It was a swirling mist of color, but she could tell it was home. She stepped into the portal, which closed behind her, leaving behind Hyrule.


	53. Epilogue

Lara opened her eyes. She was looking up at a tile ceiling. She sat up to find she was laying in a hospital bed. She was no longer wearing the blue tunic, but now a white shirt and long blue pants.

The portal had worked, she was back on earth!

The door to her room was open and a tall man entered the room. He had black hair, gray eyes and dark skin. He wore a long white coat, he must've been the doctor that was looking after Lara.

"Thank goodness," the man laughed. "We thought you'd never wake up."

"Wake up? What do you mean?" Lara asked.

"You've been in a coma for the week. You just came out of no where in the E.R... I'd like to run some more tests before you get up and moving again if you don't mind."

"Of course, not a problem."

"I'm Dr. Williams, by the way."

"Nice to meet you."

"I'll let you rest now, would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"Yes, please. Anything."

"I'll have the nurse bring you something."

Lara sat on the soft bench near a small pond. She'd been in the hospital for a day already but hadn't heard anything about Sam. Had Midna been wrong? Was Sam really gone? Lara had no way in answering the questions.

"May I sit here?" a voice asked.

"Sure," Lara replied. She didn't bother to look up at the person. The person sat down next to her.

"Are you mad about something?" the stranger asked.

"No, not mad. Sad."

"About your friend's death?"

"How would you-?" Lara began to ask as she looked up. "Sam!"

It was Sam who was sitting beside her. His left arm was in a sling that hung from his neck and he had some scratches across his face, but other than that he wasn't hurt.

"You're alive!" she sighed. She hugged him tightly, avoiding his broken arm. "Thank gosh you're not dead!"

"I can see we were both worried about each other," Sam laughed. He hugged Lara with his good arm. "But we're alive and back home now._**"**_

* * *

_**Two weeks later...**_

Lev90: It was fun while it lasted. But it was really scary all those times we could've died.

Vampyer1: Yeah, except we didn't.

Lev90: But I wonder sometimes...what would it have been like, if we hadn't come back?

Vampyer1: Don't worry about it. We came back, so no point in worrying about something that didn't happen.

Lev90: Yeah, I guess your right.

Vampyer1: I'm gonna head out. Gotta go to work today.

Lev90: Same here.

Vampyer1: See ya later.

Lev90: Bye.

Vampyer1: Bye.

Sam and Lara stayed in contact for a long time after that. They never expected to meet face-to-face again, but then again, you never know what might happen.


End file.
